International Criminal Court expects "additional visits" to Israel & "State of Palestine"

"An International Criminal Court Prosecution official told The Jerusalem Post that his team could not go to Gaza during its first visit to Israel and the West Bank due to the short duration of the visit and security concerns. Hamas and the ICC Prosecution have not had direct contact since the opening of the preliminary examination. During the interview, the Office of the Prosecutor made it clear that it hopes to visit Gaza in the future. Phakiso Mochochoko, head of the ICC Prosecutor's office on jurisdictional issues, spoke with the Post on Friday in the only Israeli-media interview granted as part of a five-day visit by the office, which took two years of negotiations to arrange...If the ICC Prosecution orders a full criminal investigation, Israel could face a new level of delegitimization challenges, and many friendly states would have to choose between their relations with Israel and their commitments to the ICC...[W]hen asked if he wished to visit Gaza, Mochochoko said, "We are hoping that in the future we would be able to do that." He explained that, 'though it was not possible this time,' due to the short visit and 'security concerns,' this visit was part of an approach to 'start small and hopefully build up on this in the future.' The PLO...called the mission 'a crucial and indispensable component for the steadfast progression of the proceedings,' and renewed 'its urgent call to the Office of the Prosecutor to conclude its preliminary examination and move to an investigation, in order to serve justice and help create deterrence.'...When Mochochoko was asked if his office has had contact with Hamas in the two years since the 2014 Gaza war, he responded that they have not, and that all communications are with the PA...Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Justice Ministry responded to the visit or the debate over the absence of a visit to Gaza...In his interview with the Post...Mochochoko tried to steer clear of discussing his office's probe of the alleged war crimes, connected with the 2014 Gaza war, and the Israeli settlement enterprise. Over and over again, he said that his team is not collecting evidence for their probe during this visit and recognizes that Israel still objects to their involvement, arguing they have no jurisdiction to get involved since Palestine is not a state and Israel is performing its own investigations of IDF soldiers. In November 2012, the UN General Assembly recognized 'Palestine' as a state, and in January 2015, the ICC Prosecution did the same, claiming statehood and request for ICC intervention gave it jurisdiction over the war crimes controversies. Pressed about how the visit could be seen as a public relations visit, since his team is not meeting with any of the Israeli and Palestinian public, aside from 'a wider circle' of government officials on both sides, as well as visits to the Hebrew University and Bethlehem University, on Friday and Sunday, respectively, he said he hoped to engage more with the wider public on future visits. Mochochoko indicated that there is no timeline for a decision, which will be made in due course after assessing the relevant evidence. At the same time, he seemed to expect the level of engagement between the ICC Prosecution and Israel and the Palestinians to increase with additional visits, assuming this visit is successful...."