For the First Time: A Lawsuit has been Filed Against Hamas in the Hague

"They opened fire on people who were dancing and celebrating, and slaughtered hundreds of them. They then beheaded them. The armed terrorists spared no one, including medical personnel and the wounded they were treating. The heavily armed terrorists continued their massacre with mass looting and destruction of civilian property. This horrendous attack claimed the lives of more than 900 civilians, most of whom were men, women, infants, children, and the elderly. More than 2,600 Israelis were injured, many of them severely, and more than 150 individuals were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, including infants and children."

26 different violations of the Rome Statute

In 2021, the chief prosecutor of the Regional Court announced the opening of a criminal investigation into "the situation in Palestine," thereby asserting authority to adjudicate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Shurat HaDin now accuses Hamas and Islamic Jihad of committing grave war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sukkot massacre and attributes more than 26 different violations of the Rome Statute – the statute of the International Criminal Court – to these terrorist organizations.

"Among the crimes committed are intentional, targeted killings of civilian populations, torture, causing great intentional suffering, looting, violation of personal dignity, and numerous other crimes, all of which were committed on a massive scale and in flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions. In the complaint, it is argued that 'the crimes committed by the accused in the current attack are of the same nature as crimes they have already committed in the past in many other events but on a significantly larger scale.'"

Attorney Darshan Leitner: "If the court ignores this massacre, it has no right to exist"

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the president of Shurat HaDin and the submitter of the complaint, said, "October 7, 2023, is now our September 11. Since the Holocaust, we have not witnessed such a horrific massacre against Jews. Entire communities have been obliterated. Men, women, and children were slaughtered in their beds. Women were raped. Heads were cut off. Children witnessed their parents being killed and then were kidnapped. Hundreds of civilians are currently undergoing torture in Gaza. It is inhuman, but more than anything, it proves to the world what kind of human beings we are fighting against."

Darshan-Leitner continues and adds that "The International Criminal Court itself bears responsibility for the massacre. From the beginning, it has acted in a completely biased manner against Israel. Since 2014, Shurat HaDin has filed numerous complaints with the chief prosecutor of the court. All of them were ignored. Only anti-Israel complaints received attention.

"When we requested to meet with the prosecutor's office to discuss the complaints, not only did they ignore us, but they continued to meet with pro-Palestinian organizations and even Palestinian leaders who were the subject of the criminal complaints against them. If the court in The Hague ignores this massacre, it has no right to exist."