Many Palestinians see a ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories as a belated chance of justice for victims of Israeli attacks.

But for many Israelis, Friday's ruling is worrying because they say they are the "good guys" defending themselves against Palestinian violence.

The ruling, delivered by a pre-trial chamber of three ICC judges, could lead to criminal investigations of Israel and Palestinian militant groups including Hamas. No probe was expected in the near future, however.

The 2014 Gaza war

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she would now examine the decision and pointed to the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and militant groups in Hamas-controlled Gaza, the 2018 Gaza border protests and Israeli settlements in occupied territory.

In Khan Younis in Gaza, Palestinian Tawfiq Abu Jama said 24 members of his extended family had been killed in an Israeli air strike during the seven-week conflict in 2014, in which more than 2,100 Palestinians, many of them civilians, as well as 67 Israeli soldiers and six Israeli civilians were killed.

Abu Jama said he regarded the ICC decision as "possible justice that came late and better than never. We don't trust Israeli courts."

An investigation into the Khan Younis strike, carried out by the Israeli military's judicial arm, concluded that it was lawful, and had targeted a militant.

On the Israeli side of the border, Israeli Gadi Yarkoni, who lost both his legs in a Palestinian mortar attack during the same war, said he was angered by the ruling.

"We are the good guys here, we don't fire in order to kill innocent children but they fire at us in order to kill civilians," said Yarkoni, who is head of the Eshkol Regional Council, bordering Gaza.

"I weep for every civilian killed in Gaza and the West Bank but we are defending our borders."

Hurdles ahead

Diana Buttu, an international lawyer and former legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the Palestinians still faced many hurdles.

She said it was not the first time an international court had declared Israeli acts illegal, and previously "the world did nothing in response."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday's ruling was anti-Semitic and that Israel would "fight this perversion of justice with all our might."

Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki said it was a "historic day" and that Israel had previously been treated "above the law."

But Palestinians are not exempt from the court's scrutiny. Hamas, designated by Israel and the West as a terrorist organization, has been accused of intentionally attacking civilians and using Palestinian civilians as human shields.

But a Hamas official in Gaza welcomed the ruling and said it did not fear investigation. "Hamas resistance and the resistance of the Palestinian people is legitimate and consistent with International Humanitarian Law," said its spokesman Hazem Qassem.