MEXICO CITY, Jan 19 — Mexico and Chile on Thursday joined calls for an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the Israel-Hamas war that has left thousands of people dead.

The referral "is due to the growing concern over the latest escalation of violence, particularly against civilian targets, and the alleged continued commission of crimes under the court’s jurisdiction, specifically since the October 7, 2023 attack carried out by Hamas militants and the subsequent hostilities in Gaza,” Mexico’s foreign ministry said.

Fighting has devastated Gaza since Palestinian militant group Hamas’ unprecedented attacks on Israel that resulted in the death of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has conducted an air and ground offensive that has killed more than 24,600 Palestinians, around 70 per cent of them women, children and adolescents, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Chile supports "the investigation of any possible war crime... whether they are war crimes committed by Israelis or by Palestinians,” Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren said at a news conference in Santiago.

The ICC opened an investigation into Israel as well as Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups for possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories in 2021.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said in November that the investigation now "extends to the escalation of hostilities and violence since the attacks that took place on 7 October, 2023.”

His remarks followed calls from South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, the Comoros and Djibouti for an ICC investigation into the conflict between Hamas and Israel, which is not an ICC member. — AFP