Hamas has signed a proposal for the Palestinian Arabs to apply to join the International Criminal Court at which legal action could be taken against Israel, a senior official of the Islamist terror movement said Saturday.
"Hamas signed the document which (Palestinian) president (Mahmud Abbas) put forth as a condition that all factions approve, before he goes to sign the Rome Statute, which paves the way for Palestine's membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC)," Hamas deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzuq wrote on his Facebook page.
The Palestinian declaration came after two days of talks in Qatar between Abbas and Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal, whose terror movement is the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip.
Senior Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Erekat told AFP that the Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful force in Gaza, "is currently the only Palestinian faction that has not signed" the document.
"They are studying the possibility of signing," he added.
According to Erekat, "the document calls on president Abbas to sign the Rome Statute to join the ICC, and indicates all the signatories assume responsibility for this membership."
Based in The Hague, the ICC opened its doors in 2003 and is the world's first independent court set up to try the worst crimes, including genocide and war crimes.
Since the July 8 outbreak of the latest war in and around Gaza, Israel and Hamas have accused each other of war crimes.
Joining the ICC would also expose Palestinian Arab terror groups to possible prosecution. Shurat Hadin, a non-governmental organization that operates against terrorists through the courts, has warned it would lodge 'a tsunami' of criminal complaints against senior PA officials, should the PA go through with its application to join the ICC.
The Palestinian Authority had in 2009 asked the ICC's prosecutor's office to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity it claimed were committed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
There has so far been no probe as the PA is not an ICC member state and its status as a state is dubious at best.
However, the Palestinians in late November 2012 obtained the status of observer state at the United Nations, opening the door for an ICC
investigation.
Israel has signed but not ratified the Rome Statute.