ISRAEL has formally decided not to co-operate with an International Criminal Court (ICC) war crimes investigation into its actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Thursday accused the ICC of hypocrisy for investigating Israel and insisted it had no legal basis to carry out the probe.

“A body that was founded to defend human rights has become a hostile body that defends those who trample human rights,” the statement said, claiming that Israeli soldiers were fighting terrorists who are committing war crimes every day.

Israel will write to the ICC saying it “completely rejects” any assertion that it carried out war crimes.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced on March 3 that she would be investigating potential war crimes committed by both Israeli and Palestinian forces.

Palestinian Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Awadallah said “full co-operation” would continue in the hope that Israel would be held accountable for its crimes.

Ms Bensouda will mainly focus on the 2014 invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip in which thousands were killed, along with the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. The probe will also take into account the killing of Palestinian demonstrators from 2018 onwards. 

She sent both Israel and the Palestinian Authority a deferral notice on March 9, giving them a month to inform judges whether they would be carrying out their own investigations.

The Palestinians have welcomed the investigation, but a day before the deadline Israel, which is not a member of the Hague-based court, said its government had agreed not to co-operate.

Mr Netanyahu has previously described plans to investigate Israel for potential war crimes as “anti-semitic” and said the country was under attack from the ICC.

It carried out intense lobbying in a bid to block the probe, with the US also supporting Israel.