A civil suit has been filed in a Dutch court against former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Air Force Commander Amir Eshel.

Haaretz reported that the suit was filed by a Palestinian citizen of the Netherlands named Ismail Ziada, claiming that the two were responsible for the killing of his first-degree family – Ziyada’s 70-year-old mother, three of his brothers – Jamil, And their 12-year-old son, Shaaban, who were killed in the bombing of their home in the El Bureij refugee camp in Gaza on July 20, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge.

A notice regarding the submission of the claim was sent by email to the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv and by proxy to the Israeli Embassy in The Hague, the capital of the Netherlands.

The plaintiff’s attorney demands that Gantz and Eshel announce within a month and a half whether they intend to admit their responsibility for the attack and compensate the plaintiff.

Apparently, if the two do not respond, or at best answer in the negative, they will be invited to appear in court in the Netherlands. If this does occur, Israel will argue that the Netherlands court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)