International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda threatened Thursday to open another investigation into Israeli war crimes as it responds to the continuing rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
In a tweet, Bensouda wrote: "I note with great concern the escalation of violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza and its environs, and the possible commission of crimes included in the Rome Statute."
The Rome Statute was signed by154 countries around the world, and gives the International Criminal Court in The Hague the power to act to investigate war crimes around the world.
In an interview with Reuters, Bensouda confirmed that she was following the current round of fighting between Israel and Hamas in order to examine whether any of those involved should be prosecuted for committing war crimes.
"These are events that we are looking at very seriously," Bensouda said. "We are monitoring very closely and I remind that an investigation has opened and the evolution of these events could also be something we look at."
She further said that she "has reasonable grounds to believe that offenses were committed by the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank and Gaza."
Bensouda has already launched an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes during the 2014 war with Gaza. Critics have accused Bensouda of having political motivations for the investigation and of twisting and ignoring international law in order to justify the investigation.