Alleged evidence of Israeli war crimes was taken to the International Criminal Court by Palestinian officials, including descriptions of military operations throughout the occupied territories and in particular last year’s war in Gaza, killings of civilians, illegal settlements and the treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Xavier Abu Eid, a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said Palestinians had struggled for years in international forums to reach the International Criminal Court, the New York Times reported.

“Whoever says that the Palestinians are trying to politicise the ICC are in fact trying to deny the Palestinians a very basic right to justice,” he said. “We are showing our seriousness to support a preliminary investigation that has already started.”

The South African government has threatened to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) after facing international criticism over the failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide.

A cabinet meeting took place on Thursday, after which the government announced it was reviewing membership of the ICC "for a number of reasons". Stating that it was taking its international obligations "seriously", the government said it had "to balance its obligations to the ICC with its obligations to the AU and individual states".

Withdrawal from the ICC would be a "last resort", it added.

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, said “such a decision will only be taken when South Africa has exhausted all the remedies available to it”.

A mass grave containing 17 bodies has been found in the Andes mountains of Peru.

The dead are thought to have died in the 1980s, when local farmers were kidnapped by Shining Path rebels and disappeared.

Senior army officers in Colombia knew of extrajudicial killings of civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report.

The rights organisation said it had seen evidence which strongly suggests "numerous generals and colonels knew or should have known about 'false positive' killings, and may have ordered or otherwise actively furthered them", including transcripts or recordings of testimony provided to prosecutors directly accusing several of Colombia's highest ranking officers of "having known of, planned, or attempted to facilitate false positive killings while holding those positions".

“False positive killings amount to one of the worst episodes of mass atrocity in the Western Hemisphere in recent years, and there is mounting evidence that many senior army officers bear responsibility,” said José Miguel Vivanco, executive Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

A South Afrcan court has criticised the government over its failure to prevent Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving the country, despite an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court.

The court had ordered the president to remain in the country while it investigated whether he could be arrested, however he was allowed to leave by plane, with the tacit approval of the South African government.

Judge Dunstan Mlambo said there was reason to believe that the South African government had committed a crime by ignoring the court order, and gave the government 24 hours to explain its actions.

"If the state... does not abide by court orders, the democratic edifice will crumble stone-by-stone until it collapses," he said.

Kurdish forces and their Syrian allies have captured a key town from Islamic State fighters, just 50 km from Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the self-declared caliphate.

A spokesman for the the Popular Protection Units (YPG) said Ain Issa and its surrounding villages were now under the militia's "total control".

The head of Rwanda's intelligence services has been arrested in London, over accusations about his involvement in massacres during the country's genocide.

General Karenzi Karake, 54, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Spain, which obliges Britain to act. It is understood the general previously travelled to Britain without trouble.

The report, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), placed most of the blame on Israel and called on the government to hold those responsi

Naser Oric was acquitted by a UN court of war crimes against Bosnian Serb Civilians, however was arrest

A senior al-Jazeera journalist was arrested in Germany, after Egypt issued an international arrest warrant.

Ahmed Mansour was sentenced to 15 years in absentia, by a court in Egypt, which found him guilty of torture.

The prime minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic says he was prepared to attend ceremonies to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre.

Nearly 8,000 Bosniak Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serb soldiers, in the town of Srebrenica, called by the UN an act of genocide.

"As prime minister, I am ready to bow my head to show the stand we take towards the innocent victims of Srebrenica," said Mr Vucic.

He described Srebrenica as "hell", but stopped short of calling it genocide.

But the mayor of Srebrenica, Camil Durakovic said Mr Vucic's statement was a "provocation".

The Tuareg led militant alliance in Mali signed a landmark deal which looked to end a 5 decade long conflict that saw many die in the northern regions of the country.