The International Criminal Court has announced that it will launch an investigation into possible war crimes in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. 
 
The international tribunal ruled last month it had jurisdiction in the region in a move lauded by Palestinians and heavily criticised by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
 
The investigation will cover events dating back to 13 June 2014, prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement on Wednesday. 
 
She said the decision to open a probe was made after nearly five years of “painstaking preliminary examination.”
 
Ms Bensouda said the ICC would “take the same principled, non-partisan, approach that it has adopted in all situations over which its jurisdiction is seized.”
 
She said the Hague court’s “central concern” will be for Israeli and Palestinian victims and lamented the “violence and insecurity that has caused deep suffering and despair on all sides.”
 
Mr Netanyahu warned Israel was “under attack tonight” and said the probe was “the epitome of antisemitism and hypocrisy”, according to local media.
 
But the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry told Reuters the decision was “a long-awaited step that serves Palestine’s tireless pursuit of justice and accountability."