Israeli survivors of the October 7 attacks and relatives of the victims are stepping up their efforts to bring the crimes of Hamas to the International Criminal Court prosecutor, as part of the investigation into the attacks and Israel’s response to Gaza.

“We want to make sure that people act and that their freedom is blocked,” says Udi Goren, a cousin of 41-year-old Tal Haimi, who was kidnapped on October 7, referring to the leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

It was later announced that Haimi is dead, but his body is still being held in Gaza.

Israeli survivors of the October 7 Hamas attack and victims’ families are seeking the ICC to issue an arrest warrant against the Hamas leadership.

“We want to…ensure that the leaders of Hamas are captured or that they are no longer able to leave Qatar and that pressure is put on them to release the hostages,” Goren said, speaking from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.

Goren is one of about 100 family members of hostages and survivors preparing to travel to the Court’s headquarters in The Hague.

Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction. But Prosecutor Karim Khan has said his court has jurisdiction over any war crimes committed by Hamas in Israel and Israelis in the Gaza Strip.

The group of 100 will file the latest in a series of appeals under Article 15 of the Rome Statute on behalf of Israeli victims.

These legal appeals are intended to provide information to the prosecution and are part of a wider effort to get the ICC to act against Hamas leaders.

In a sign that the October 7 ICC investigation is moving forward, lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents another group of Israeli victims, told Reuters that some of her clients gave statements directly to ICC investigators in The Hague last year. week.

“It was an important next step for the investigation. Investigators sat down with the victims for many hours and heard the personal testimony of key witnesses at many crime scenes of the October 7 attacks,” said Vias Gvirsman, who represents 200 Israeli victims. from 42 different families at the ICC.

The case at the ICC is separate from the genocide case brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which is also based in The Hague.

The International Court of Justice is a United Nations body that handles disputes between states, while the ICC is a treaty-based criminal court that focuses on individual criminal responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The Palestinian Territories became a member of the ICC in 2015, which gives the court jurisdiction over atrocities committed by anyone in that territory and by Palestinians on Israeli soil.