Palestinians plan to file their first "war crimes" case against Israel in the ICC on April 1. Photo: Israel Defense Forces.

JNS.org – The Palestinians plan to file their first “war crime” case against Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) on April 1, a senior Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) official said Monday.

The PLO’s Mohamed Shtayyeh said that the case will focus on last summer’s Operation Protective Edge and Israeli construction in the disputed territories.

“One of the first important steps will be filing a complaint against Israel at the ICC on April 1 over the [summer 2014] Gaza war and settlement activity,” said Shtayyeh, AFP reported.

The Palestinians made the request to join the ICC in January, and their membership in the organization should be formalized by the time they plan to file the legal action against Israel. Israel has already responded to the Palestinians’ request to join the court by withholding millions of dollars in tax payments that the Jewish state had been collecting for the Palestinian Authority.