MOSCOW, April 1 (RAPSI) – The Palestinian Authority has become a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is based in The Hague, TASS reported on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Authority’s Permanent Observer to the UN, Riyad Mansour, officially presented the documents on accession to the Rome Statute to the ISS Secretariat on January 2, 2015.

According to Sonia Robla, Chief of the Public Information and Documentation Section at the ICC, the accession documents formally take effect three months after their submission. In the case of Palestine, that is April 1, 2015.

Palestine has become the 123rd member of the ICC. The media have reported that Palestine is ready to request an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories today.

The Palestinian government said it would seek retroactive action against Israel at the ICC for alleged crimes committed by Israel in Gaza last summer. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians and 70 Israelis died during the 50-day conflict that ended in August.