The international team of lawyers assigned by the Palestinian Bar Association to the Office of the International Prosecutor and the International Criminal Court submitted a pre-emptive legal memorandum against 60 countries and entities that the Office of the International Prosecutor gave a deadline until the end of yesterday (August 6) to submit their objections to the announcement of the intention to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

Dr. Faisal Khazal, head of the legal team, said in a statement yesterday: “The International Prosecutor’s Office did not specify whether it would be possible to enable the international legal team to respond to the written objections, and also enable it to refute the defenses and arguments that will be presented on the date that was set, so Annex No. 8 was deposited to the team on August 6 according to the date set by the International Prosecutor’s Office and considered “this Annex No. 8” as a preemptive response and legal precaution for everything that will be included in the memoranda that will be submitted by the opponents or the 60 parties mentioned or others, while the legal team retains all its legal rights to respond in the future if necessary.”

Khazal explained in his statement: “The response was based on two very important points, which are: First, that the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court issued a decision on February 5, 2021 (by majority vote) that the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories of 1967, and that this decision applies to the territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, meaning that international crimes and violations are committed on territories that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and that the state of these territories is a member of the International Criminal Court (the reference here is Palestine), and second, Israel’s withdrawal from its membership in the International Criminal Court (and its indication in the withdrawal decision that it no longer wishes to be a member, and thus there is no longer anything that compels it to implement its obligations towards the court) is something that does not apply to this complaint or the crimes referred to, which occurred in the Gaza Strip from October 7, 2023 until now (as well as crimes that occur after this date).”