ISRAEL has made “no real effort” to investigate war crimes allegations brought by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the top court’s prosecutor Karim Khan said yesterday.

Speaking to Reuters, Mr Khan said he stood by his decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri.

ICC judges issued the warrants last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes.

“We’re here as a court of last resort and … as we speak right now, we haven’t seen any real effort by the state of Israel to take action that would meet the established jurisprudence, which is investigations regarding the same suspects for the same conduct,” Mr Khan said.

An Israeli investigation could have shifted jurisdiction back to Israeli courts under the ICC’s complementary principles, he said.

The ICC is the world’s permanent court to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.

Mr Khan said that Israel had very good legal expertise, saying: “Have those legal instruments been used to properly scrutinise the allegations that we’ve seen in the occupied Palestinian territories, in the state of Palestine?

“I think the answer to that is ‘no’.”

Mr Khan also made an unannounced visit to Damascus yesterday to meet Syria’s de facto government to “offer support in ensuring accountability for alleged crimes committed in the country.”

Rights groups estimate that at least 150,000 people have gone missing in Syria since 2011.

Many are believed to have been killed, either in mass executions or as a result of torture and inhumane prison conditions.

The exact number of victims remains unknown.