Israel
Scandalous statements at the Venice Film Festival
Filmmaker Sarah Friedland sparked outrage with her comments at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on Saturday.
Lebanon has moved towards accepting the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction to prosecute violations on Lebanese territory since October, in what Human Rights Watch said on Saturday was a "landmark step" towards justice for war crimes.
An exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw
Lebanon has moved towards accepting the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction to prosecute violations on Lebanese territory since October, in what Human Rights Watch said on Saturday was a "landmark step" towards justice for war crimes.
Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating its sovereignty and committing breaches of international law over the last six months, during which the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have traded fire across Lebanon's southern border in parallel with the Gaza War.
That cross-border shelling has killed at least 70 civilians, including children, rescue workers and journalists, among them Reuters visuals reporter Issam Abdallah, who was killed by an Israeli tank on Oct. 13, a Reuters investigation found.
Lebanon's caretaker cabinet voted on Friday to instruct the foreign affairs ministry to file a declaration with the ICC accepting the court's jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes committed on Lebanese territory since Oct. 7.
The decree also instructed the foreign ministry to include in its complaints about Israel to the United Nations a report prepared by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), an independent research institute.
That report looked specifically into Abdallah's killing, and was produced by examining shrapnel, flak jackets, a camera, tripod and a large piece of metal that were gathered by Reuters from the scene, as well as video and audio material.
Neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC, which is based in The Hague. But filing a declaration to the court would grant it jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute relevant crimes in a particular period.
Ukraine has twice filed such declarations, which allowed for the court to investigate alleged Russian war crimes.
"The Lebanese government has taken a landmark step toward securing justice for war crimes in the country," said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, urging the foreign minister to "swiftly" formalise the move by filing a declaration to the ICC.
"This is an important reminder to those who flout their obligations under the laws of war that they may find themselves in the dock," Fakih said.
Reporting by Maya Gebeily
Filmmaker Sarah Friedland sparked outrage with her comments at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on Saturday.
Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Mohammad al-Sadeq said that Iran's retaliation following the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was imminent.
Three Lebanese paramedics were killed, and two others were wounded — one critically — in an Israeli attack while they were extinguishing fires in the southern town of Faroun, Lebanon's health ministry reported on Saturday.
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