DUBAI, November 28. /TASS/. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian sent letters to the president and chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Piotr Hofmanski and Karim Ahmad Khan respectively, requesting that they put a stop to Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, the Iranian ministry announced on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
"Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian sent letters to the ICC president and chief prosecutor, stressing the need to expedite hearings regarding the recent crimes in the Gaza Strip," the ministry said in a statement.
"The barbaric bombardment of the Gaza Strip and Israel's invasion of the enclave, which have left more than 14,000 civilians killed and at least 32,000 wounded, are clear examples of war crimes," according to the ministry.
"They must be looked at as crimes against humanity and acts of genocide," the statement reads.
"The Iranian foreign minister has called this hearing in the ICC a test for the independence and impartiality of the judicial body," the statement said. "He added that the ICC must now decide whether to resist the pressure exerted on it by some powers or to back down and allow the atrocities committed by Israel to go unpunished."
On November 20, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the authorities of Iran intended to file a lawsuit with the ICC against Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip.
On November 11, Saudi Arabia hosted a summit of the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The summit's final statement said that the member-states of these associations would ask the ICC chief prosecutor to investigate Israel's "war crimes" committed in the Gaza Strip.
Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 when some 3,000 Hamas militants launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Israel declared a total siege of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.