The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Tuesday, May 14, she would open a preliminary examination into the events surrounding the 2010 Israeli raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound from Turkey to the Gaza strip in which nine people died.

According to Reuters, the prosecutor said in a statement she was obliged to open a preliminary examination following a referral from the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros, to which one of the vessels raided was registered. Few preliminary examinations ever lead to a full investigation, let alone a trial.

"My office will be conducting a preliminary examination in order to establish whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met," she said in response to the referral, which was transmitted by a Turkish law firm.