Belgium investigates two Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza

The Hind Rajab Foundation confirmed on Monday that Belgian police arrested and interrogated two Israeli soldiers on charges of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, before releasing them.

The statement added that the arrest and investigation of the two soldiers came in response to an urgent criminal complaint filed this week by the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network.

She added that the two suspects were identified and arrested in a visible and decisive manner during the Tomorrowland festival in Boom. After being detained, they underwent formal interrogation and were then released.

She noted that the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office had opened a criminal investigation into the case.

The foundation considered the investigation into the two soldiers a turning point in the global quest for justice, sending a message that "credible evidence of international crimes must be met with legal action, not political indifference."

"Starting something important"

"We do not claim that justice has been served, not yet. But we believe that something important has begun. For the first time in Europe, Israeli suspects linked to crimes in Gaza are being formally arrested and interrogated. This would not have happened without the force of the law and the will to enforce it," Hind Rajab's foundation said in the statement.

In recent months, dozens of legal complaints have been filed in European and Latin American countries against Israeli soldiers for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip. The complaints were filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation. In March, the International Center for Justice for Palestinians launched the "Global 195" initiative to prosecute Israelis involved in war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza. It is worth noting that in press interviews, a number of Israeli soldiers admitted to committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, and they also documented some of them in video clips they shared on social media.

Source: Al Jazeera