Israeli Channel 13 reported that Israel has 30 days to respond to a letter from the International Criminal Court (ICC) relating to accusations of war crimes committed in the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli channel indicated that the letter of the International Court arrived at the end of last week, at a time when the National Security Council in Israel began formulating Israel's response to these accusations.
The channel indicated that the brief letter consisting of a page and a half presented the three main areas of investigation, which are the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, and the settlement policy.
The Israeli government, in addition to the 2018 Great March of Return protests, a series of violent demonstrations along the Gaza border with Israel that left dozens of Palestinians dead.
Earlier this month, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, announced that it had opened a formal investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories, in a move that Israel strongly opposes.
Bensouda said there was a "reasonable basis" to believe that crimes were committed by members of the Israeli forces, Israeli authorities, Hamas, and Palestinian armed factions during the 2014 Gaza war.
Also earlier this month, a number of officials told Channel 13 that they are concerned that the ICC may actually begin issuing arrest warrants against former Israeli military officials and officers in the coming months.
According to Israeli media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at the forefront of these officials, in addition to the Minister of Defense at that time, Moshe Ya'alon, and the current Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, who was the Chief of Staff of the Army at the time, in addition to a number of army commanders in Israel.
Israel is not a member of the International Criminal Court, while the Palestinians joined it in 2015.
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