Gaza flotilla raid: No Israel charges over Mavi Marmara

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor says she will not take action over Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists.

Fatou Bensouda said despite “reasonable basis” to believe war crimes had been committed, the ICC had to prioritise larger-scale events.

Israel said the ICC had wasted time on a “politically motivated” complaint.

Lawyers who brought the case said they planned to appeal against the decision.

Ten Israeli soldiers were injured in the incident on the Turkish-owned ship Mavi Marmara as it attempted to breach a blockade of the Hamas-run territory.

It caused a deep rift between Israel and Turkey, who were former allies.

‘Sufficient gravity’

Ms Bensouda said she did not want to minimise “the impact of the alleged crimes on the victims and their families” but she had to be guided by the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

“I have concluded that the potential case(s) likely arising from an investigation into this incident would not be of ‘sufficient gravity’ to justify further action by the ICC,” she said in a statement.

Ms Bensouda said she had referred to the reports of the various inquiries that had previously examined the incident in making her decision.

BBC