Spain says will probe 'rights violations in Gaza'

Madrid: Spain will probe human rights violations in Gaza to assist the International Criminal Court, which has sought arrest warrants for top Israel...

Madrid: Spain will probe "human rights violations in Gaza" to assist the International Criminal Court, which has sought arrest warrants for top Israeli officials over alleged war crimes, the attorney general said Thursday.

The announcement marks another step by Spain, a virulent critic of the devastating Israeli offensive in the Palestinian territory, to lead international action over the conflict.

Spain's top prosecutor, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, has "issued a decree to create a working team tasked with investigating violations of international human rights law in Gaza", his office said in a statement.

The investigative team's mission will be to "gather evidence and make it available to the competent body, thereby fulfilling Spain's obligations regarding international cooperation and human rights", it said.

"Faced with the current situation in the Palestinian territories, all evidence, direct or indirect, that can be gathered in our country" on "crimes committed" in Gaza "must be included" for potential use in the ICC case, it added in the decree.