Surprise Surprise! Israel's killing of 9 Gaza flotilla protesters 'not of sufficient gravity' for war crimes investigation, ICC says

© (AFP Photo / HO / Free Gaza Movement)

File picture shows an undated image taken from the Free Gaza Movement website on May 28, 2010 of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara taking part in the "Freedom Flotilla" heading towards the Gaza Strip.

The killing of nine Gaza Freedom Flotilla protesters in 2010 by Israeli forces is "not of sufficient gravity" to come under the ICC's jurisdiction, despite a "reasonable basis" to believe that war crimes were committed, court papers say.

The information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the Court's jurisdiction have been committed in the context of interception and takeover of the Mavi Marmara by IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) soldiers on 31 May 2010," reads the International Criminal Court document, a copy of which was seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The 2010 Israeli raid on Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin, as the vessels tried to penetrate the Israeli blockade on Gaza maintained since 2007. The lawsuit against the state of Israel was filed in The Hague in May 2013 on behalf of Turkey's Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH) and victim's families, with an authorization from Comoros Islands in which the raided vessel, Mavi Marmara, was registered.

The evidence of Israeli aggression was presented to the court. The accused include Israeli officials involved in the raid, including the Israeli prime minister, defense minister and the chief of staff of the Israeli military," Ramazan Arıtürk, a lawyer for the victims, told the press at the time.

© (AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)

Palestinian Hamas policemen patrol off the coast of Gaza City on May 29, 2010 in preparation for the arrival of the "Freedom Flotilla".

The court took up the petition in March 2014 and announced it would launch an investigation into the case. However, after reviewing the petition, the ICC found that while there was a " to believe Israeli soldiers had committed war crimes, they were not of sufficient gravity to fall under the court's jurisdiction, the court papers added.

the paper reads according to Reuters.

Article 12(2) of the Rome Statute stipulates that the court's jurisdiction extends to crimes committed on board a vessel or aircraft of a member state and its territory. Neither Turkey nor Israel or Palestine are members of the ICC.

Israeli lawyer Nick Kaufman thus claimed that Mavi Marmara was deliberately reflagged just before the flotilla set sail, to exploit a jurisdictional vehicle for the

The representatives of the Comoros government in the meantime are planning to apply to judges for a review of the decision that marks the first time a State referral by an ICC States Party has ever been rejected by ... Prosecutors without even initiating an investigation."

It confirms the view expressed by politicians, civil society organisations, NGOs and commentators from many quarters that Israel has a 'special status,'" said lawyers Rodney Dixon and Geoffrey Nice.

The 2010 atrocity caused international condemnation and ruined Turkish-Israeli relations. Three years after the raid, in March 2013, Turkey received an official apology from Israel.

In 2012, the ICC declined Palestine's bid for an investigation into the 2008-09 Israeli military offensive on the Gaza strip on the basis that Palestine was not a recognized state at the time.