Three days after the war ended, on 21 January 2009, the PA filed a declaration with the ICC seeking to allow the court jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territories.

Under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute – the treaty that established the ICC – non-members of the ICC can file a declaration granting the court jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed within their territory after a specified date. Ukraine has adopted this approach to address alleged Russian crimes.

After much deliberation, the ICC rejected Palestine’s declaration on the grounds that Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute only applied to “states”.

However, when Palestine was recognised as a non-member observer state at the UN following a General Assembly vote in late 2012, it opened up the possibility not only of filing a declaration with the ICC but also of attaining full membership.