The Palestinian government is considering joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a member to hold Israel accountable over its military invasion in the Gaza Strip and other territories that killed thousands of its people.

Foreign minister Riad Malki disclosed that the Palestinian Authority will consult international law experts and other Palestinian groups over its plan though timeline was given regarding its application.

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Following his meeting with court officials in The Hague, Malki said Israel has left Palestine with no other option, Associated Press detailed.

The ICC is a permanent international tribunal tasked to prosecute individuals and countries for crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. It is expected to cover "crimes of aggression" by 2017 at the latest.

The Palestine's plan to join the ICC was renewed following the four-week long fighting of Palestinian militants against the Israeli army in the Gaza strip after the latter intensified its deadly military actions.

Meanwhile, British lawyers have initiated the Palestinians' plan and have called on the ICC to investigate Israel for the "crimes" it committed in the conflict.

Britain's Bar Council's human rights committee has sent a letter to the ICC to act on Israel's military offensive in Gaza that killed at least 1,800 Palestinians, most of them were civilians and children.

The letter, written by the Council's chair Kirsty Brimelow QC and signed by senior barristers and law professors, said the message of the probe is clear and unequivocal. They want those responsible for the atrocities accountable and put to justice.

The letter does not represent the British government, which remained in its belief that the offensive is not a criminal act. United Nations itself condemned the "criminal" actions of Israel.

The investigation, the Council said, would also help to bring an end to the impunity in the Palestinian territories committed by Israel that until now prevails, the letter added. "The international community cannot continue to act simply as witness to such bloodshed and extreme civilian suffering."

Israel has earlier filed an application for the ICC membership, but the ICC prosecution in 2012 said it could not determine Palestine as a "state" according to the standards of the Rome Statute. United Nations General Assembly later in that year voted in favor of recognizing Palestine as a non-member observer state.

The violence in the Gaza strip has continued in the first week of August, with no official truce yet to end the bloodshed that put the Gaza strip into rubble. 

TagsIsrael, State of Palestine, Palestine, Palestinian, International Criminal Court