People in Beirut light candles in solidarity with Palestinians in Rafah on May 27, 2024.
AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
Why has the ICC indictment of Israeli and Hamas leaders drawn so much fire? Understanding the notion of moral equivalence might help explain why.
AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi
A selection of our coverage of the conflict in Gaza from the past fortnight.
Dozens of people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on May 27.
Haitham Imad / EPA
Attempts to establish justice too early may complicate efforts to achieve peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a ceremony in Jerusalem marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel’s wars and victims of attacks on May 13, 2024.
(Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP)
The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court publicized his request for warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. Publicly, Canada’s position aligns with Israel and the United States.
Peter Dejong/AP
The US initially supported the court’s creation, but has had ambivalent feelings towards it ever since then.
EPA-EFE/Lina Selg
Both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice have become embroiled in the Gaza conflict. But the two courts are distinctly different, which has caused some confusion.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan.
Mauricio Duenas Castaneda / EPA
The ICC is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders that are suspected of committing war crimes in Gaza.
(From left): Yahya Sinwar, Karim Khan, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Adel Hana/AP; Mauricio Duenas Castaneda/EFE/EPA; Abir Sultan/EPA
Though the move by the ICC chief prosecutor is a significant one, it’s very unlikely the Israeli or Palestinian leaders will be arrested or face a trial.
Demonstrators in France wave a placard – which reads “M23 OUT” – in solidarity with victims of conflict in eastern DRC.
Photo by Elsa Biyick/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
For the vulnerable millions in eastern DRC, it is not enough that international courts exist.
People carrying Palestinian flags and banners gather in front of the International Criminal Court on Oct. 18, 2023.
Abdullah Asiran/Anadolu via Getty Images
Prosecuting leaders indicted for war crimes is difficult. But the trial of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in the early 2000s offers a potential playbook.
Pavel Bednyakov/AP
Russia’s claims of self-defence are flimsy. You only have to breathe on them to knock them over. But would it be wise to try Putin in his absence?
Both sides are reporting sexual violence, including rape.
Amanda Rose/Alamy Live News
Investigating sex crimes in a war zone will be hard, but accountability for these crimes against humanity is vital.
The Obim Rock internally displaced persons’ camp in northern Uganda.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Uganda, as the concerned state party, is expected to go out and find Dominic Ongwen’s victims.
Children queue for food aid in the southern Gaza Strip, February 2024.
EPA-EFE/Mohammed Saber
Children are particularly at risk from malnutrition as food supplies in Gaza run out.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The war has resulted in a flurry of legal proceedings in international courts. Some cases have merit, while others are very weak.
‘UK could recognise Palestine after the war’: David Cameron made the promise while in Lebanon, meeting the caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati.
EPA-EFE/Wael Hamzeh
Much of the world already recognises Palestinian statehood. But recognition by the US and UK would be a hugely important decision.
Judges take their seats prior to the hearing of Israel’s defense at the International Court of Justice on Jan. 12, 2024.
Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images
While the International Court of Justice lacks enforcement powers, it can issue orders that could heighten international pressure on Israel to curtail some of its offensive in Gaza.
South Africa’s legal team inside The Hague. They are joined by justice minister Raymond Lamola, left, and ambassador Vusi Madonsela.
Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images
South Africa’s legal team includes lawyers who previously acted against the government.
Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s minister of justice and correctional services (centre), and Palestinian assistant Minister of Multilateral Affairs Ammar Hijazi (right, with his head bowed), address the media outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on Jan. 11, 2024.
(AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Canada doesn’t support the case before the International Court of Justice that Israel is guilty of genocide in its war against Gaza. That’s contrary to its stance on other cases of genocide.
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Jehad Alshrafi/Anadolu via Getty Images
There is precedent showing the ICJ may grant provisional measures within a month or two of the hearing, preventing Israel from causing further harm in Gaza.