Families of Israeli hostages to file war crimes complaint against Hamas in The Hague

Some 100 family members of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza are set to file a complaint of war crimes on February 14 against the leaders of the movement at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Report informs referring to The Times of Israel.

Over the past four months, lawyers for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which is representing the hostages’ relatives, have prepared a legal submission demanding that arrest warrants be issued against the Hamas leadership for the October 7 atrocities.

Several dozen lawyers together with around 100 representatives of the families of the hostages will file the complaint, while the forum says it expects several thousand Dutch Jews to turn up at the ICC for the submission.

It is believed that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas during its October 7 assault remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that.

Three hostages have been rescued by troops, and the bodies of 11 hostages have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.

The complaint will include charges against Hamas leaders of “kidnapping, crimes of sexual violence, torture and other serious allegations,” the forum said in a statement to the press.

The ICC can prosecute individuals for serious violations of the Geneva Conventions that amount to war crimes, based on complaints submitted by international organizations, individuals, or parties to the court, while the court itself can also initiate examinations and investigations into possible violations of the laws of armed conflict.