Hamas chief urges Arab League to sue Israel at ICC

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh has called on the Arab League to sue Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The call came during a phone call Haniyeh made on Monday with Secretary-General of the Cairo-based league, Ahmed Abul-Gheit, to discuss Israeli practices against the Palestinians.

On Friday, at least 18 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli gunfire during rallies demanding the return of refugees near the border of the Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh underlined the need "to go to the UN General Assembly to discuss the [Israeli] crime and form a special investigation commission", his office said in a statement.

The UN Security Council held a session on Saturday at the request of Kuwait to discuss the situation on Gaza border, but the Council failed to condemn the Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters.

According to the statement, Abul-Gheit decried the "Israeli crime against participants in the peaceful rally".

Delegates of the Arab League are scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Cairo to discuss Israeli actions against the Palestinians.

Friday's rallies were the start of a six-week protest that culminates on May 15, the day the Palestinians call as "Nakba", or "Catastrophe", when Israel was created.

The demonstrators are demanding that Palestinian refugees be allowed the right of return to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created in 1948.