The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague says she will not pursue action against Israel for the 2010 raid on the “Freedom Flotilla” of peace activists that resulted in the deaths of nine people.  Fatou Bensouda says the ICC’s focus should be larger-scale crimes.

“I have concluded that the potential case(s) likely arising from an investigation into this incident would not be of ‘sufficient gravity’ to justify further action by the ICC,” Bensouda said in a statement.  That’s not to say that she believes Israel is innocent.  Bensouda says there is a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed”.

On 31 May 2010, six ships carrying civilian humanitarian aid from a Turkish port were in International Waters, en route to Gaza in defiance of Israel’s economic blockade that was intended to choke off Hamas.  Commandos from the Israel Defense Force (IDF) repelled down from helicopters in a botched pre-dawn raid that killed nine activists.  A tenth died of injuries later on.  The assault sparked widespread condemnation and led to soured relations between the two countries.