Israeli hostage families fly to The Hague to press ICC to investigate Hamas

People hold banners and Israeli flags on the day representatives of families of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 are expected to hold a press conference, after submitting legal filings to the International Criminal Court which is investigating potential war crimes committed by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Israel and by Israel in the Gaza Strip, in The Hague, Netherlands, February 14, 2024. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw REFILE- QUALITY REPEAT

By Rami Amichay

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas since Oct.7 urged the International Criminal Court on Wednesday to ensure justice for their loved ones and to help bring them home.

“Today is Valentine’s day and Ohad, the love of my life, is still being held hostage,” freed hostage Raz Ben Ami, whose husband Ohad remains captive in Gaza, said after travelling to The Hague, where the ICC is based.

“My love, I hope you can hear me, I am still waiting for you,” she said near the ICC’s headquarters. Standing in the rain, families and activists waved Israeli flags and chanted “Bring them home now!”

On Oct. 7, Hamas carried out a cross-border raid on southern Israel in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 240 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

It sparked Israel’s military offensive in Gaza which has laid waste to much of the densely-populated strip of land on the Mediterranean and killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognise its jurisdiction, but the Palestinian territories were admitted as ICC members in 2015.

Prosecutor Karim Khan reaffirmed to Reuters this week that the court has jurisdiction over the events of Oct. 7 and they form part of the court’s investigation.

Survivors of the Oct. 7 attack and families of victims want the ICC to target Hamas leaders with arrest warrants.

“We trust that the ICC has the capacity to bring about justice for the hostages and their families,” said Shelly Aviv Yeini, from the Hostage Families Forum, adding that The Hague event also aimed to apply pressure for the release of the hostages.

HOSTAGES

Speaking at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport before heading to The Hague, Udi Goren, cousin of 41-year-old Tal Haimi, who was abducted and later confirmed dead, said: “We want to … make sure that the leaders of Hamas are taken into custody or that they cannot leave Qatar anymore and that this puts pressure on them to release the hostages.”

Family members of a hostage stand on the stage as people hold banners and Israeli flags on the day representatives of families of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 are expected to hold a press conference, after submitting legal filings to the International Criminal Court which is investigating potential war crimes committed by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Israel and by Israel in the Gaza Strip, in The Hague, Netherlands, February 14, 2024. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

Goren was among the group of around 100 family members who flew to The Hague to file the latest in several so-called article 15 communications on behalf of Israeli victims.

These legal filings are meant to provide information to the prosecution and are part of a wider push to get the ICC to act against Hamas leaders.

In a sign that the ICC’s investigation of the Oct 7. attacks and Israel’s response is moving forward, lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents another group of Israeli victims, told Reuters that a handful of her clients gave testimony directly to ICC investigators in The Hague last week.

FILE PHOTO: A cyclist rides underneath an Israeli flag and a banner hanging from a bridge with photos of the hostages kidnapped in the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 14, 2024. REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo

“It was a significant next step for the investigation. Investigators sat down with victims for very long hours to hear personal accounts by key witnesses of several crime scenes of the Oct. 7 attacks,” said Vias Gvirsman, who represents 200 Israeli victims from 42 different families at the ICC.

The case at the ICC is separate from the genocide case launched against Israel at the International Court of Justice or World Court also based in The Hague.

The World Court is a United Nations court that deals with disputes between states while the ICC is a treaty-based criminal court focusing on individual criminal responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

(Reporting by Rami Amichay and Stephanie van den Berg; Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander; Writing by Stephanie van den Berg and Ingrid Melander; editing by Ros Russell)

People hold banners and Israeli flags on the day representatives of families of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 are expected to hold a press conference, after submitting legal filings to the International Criminal Court which is investigating potential war crimes committed by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Israel and by Israel in the Gaza Strip, in The Hague, Netherlands, February 14, 2024. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

Representatives of families of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 hold a press conference, after submitting legal filings to the International Criminal Court which is investigating potential war crimes committed by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Israel and by Israel in the Gaza Strip, in The Hague, Netherlands, February 14, 2024. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw