Four Belgians living in Israel have filed a lawsuit in Belgium against representatives of the Palestinian Islamist party Hamas for war crimes, the Brussels daily Le Soir reported Saturday.According to the report, the suit was filed under a Belgian law that allows legal action on certain cases that do not take place in Belgium.
The suit is directed against the military wing of Hamas and the wing's leader Ahmed al-Jabari. A further suit is planned against the political wing of the organisation including its Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal. One of the initiators of the petition stated that his house was struck by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. All four petitioners hold duel Israeli-Belgian citizenship.
According to Le Soir, 11 further people are planning to file suits in the initiative. The action comes a nearly a year after Israel launched a three- week offensive to stop nearly eight years of rocket and mortar attacks on its southern communities. More than 1,000 Palestinians died in the offensive.