ISTANBUL, November 17. /TASS/. Israel will be tried in The Hague sooner or later for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.

Commenting on the initiative of a group of local citizens to file a lawsuit against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the International Criminal Court (ICC), he said: "Israel will face justice sooner or later for killing children in front of the world." "It will definitely be called to account for everything it has done. If they can't do it today, the criminals will go before the ICC years later," the minister told the Milliyet newspaper.

The official pointed to the inability of international organizations to solve crises such as the conflict between Israel and Palestine. "Unfortunately, the UN Charter and the structure of the UN Security Council do not allow this problem to be solved. A veto from any one member of the UN Security Council allows any ceasefire or humanitarian aid initiatives to be rejected. There is a UN human rights body that is responsible for collecting evidence [of Israeli crimes] and handing it over to the ICC," Tunc said.

Earlier, several Turkish lawmakers and lawyers submitted a petition to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office asking it to send an application to the ICC against the Israeli prime minister. It said that Netanyahu "committed crimes against humanity, waged war and genocide before the eyes of the world," for which he should be tried at the ICC in accordance with international criminal laws.

Turkey cannot appeal to the ICC itself because Ankara is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. At the same time, Turkey can inform the prosecutor of the court in The Hague about crimes through governmental structures and non-governmental organizations.

The Rome Statute is the international treaty that established the ICC and is its statute. The court's mandate includes the prosecution of those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and acts of aggression. The ICC's jurisdiction extends to crimes committed after July 1, 2002, on the territory of a state party to the Rome Statute and to nationals of those states on the territory of any other state. If the state on whose territory the crime occurred is not a party to the Statute, or if its nationals are suspected of committing serious crimes, the UN Security Council may issue a mandate to initiate prosecutions. Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute. It was until 2002, but withdrew its signature.