A Dutch court on Wednesday threw out a case brought against former Israeli military chiefs, including politician Benny Gantz, by a man who lost six relatives in an air strike in Gaza.
Ismail Ziada, a Dutch-Palestinian, lost his mother, three brothers, a young nephew and a sister-in-law in the strike during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Mr Gantz, now the main rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was the chief of the general staff of the Israeli defence force (IDF) at the time of the air strike on Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp on July 20, 2014.
But The Hague district court said that under international law it could not hear the case, which named Mr Gantz and former Israeli air force chief Amir Eshel.
"The district court has ruled that the Dutch court is not competent to hear the case, because the former Israeli officials have functional immunity from jurisdiction," Judge Larisa Alwin said.
"This form of immunity, a legal concept in customary international law derived from state immunity, applies to acts carried out in the performance of a public duty," she said.
"The air strike in the Gaza Strip, in which six of the claimant's relatives were killed, is an example of an act carried out in the performance of a public duty."
Israel said it launched Protective Edge to stop rocket fire against its citizens and destroy tunnels used for smuggling weapons and militants.
Mr Ziada said he intended to appeal against Wednesday's ruling.
"My feeling is deep sorrow and disappointment," Mr Ziada told reporters outside the court.
"I am a Dutch citizen who has been a victim of a horrendous crime and here a Dutch court says I have no access to justice."
Thom Dieben, lawyer for the defendants, said they were "pleased with the outcome."
"The reasoning is legally sound and in line with international law and that was what this case was all about," he told reporters.
"This case does not belong in a Dutch court, it belongs in an Israeli court. That was the line put forward by the IDF officials and that's what in our view the court has now accepted."
At a hearing in September Mr Ziada told judges he was "seeking justice" and would not get a fair hearing before an Israeli court.
"The claimant believes that he cannot file his claim anywhere else and that the case has sufficient ties with the Netherlands, because he holds Dutch nationality and lives in the Netherlands," the court said.
Operation Protective Edge left 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, most of them civilians, and 74 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.
