THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Three Palestinian human rights groups that had U.S. sanctions imposed on them for asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel over allegations of atrocity crimes in Gaza plan to continue their cooperation with the war crimes tribunal.
The groups are the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Al-Haq, based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The sanctions were posted on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website on Thursday and include blocking any provisions of funds, goods or services to them.
Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani, who runs the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, called the sanctions “shameful” on Friday and said he would not be deterred.
“This is our reaction: business as usual, we are just in the court doing what we have to do,” Sourani told reporters outside the ICC after meeting its deputy prosecutor.
The ICC office of the prosecutor meets regularly with NGOs that have submitted legal filings to the court.
The three groups asked the ICC in November 2023 to investigate alleged war crimes including genocide by bombing and besieging the Gaza Strip.
A year later, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel has denied carrying out genocide in its war in Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions on ICC judges and its chief prosecutor over the Israeli arrest warrants and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed on the territory of its member countries or by its members’ nationals. Some non-member states, including the U.S., China, Russia and Israel, say the court has no authority over its nationals or its allies’ nationals.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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