‘All states have an obligation to prevent atrocity crimes and promote adherence to norms that protect civilians. The international community is long overdue to live up to these commitments.’
Sixteen leading international human rights and humanitarian organisations have made a joint call to all UN Member States to stop fuelling the crisis in Gaza, to avert further loss of civilian life and humanitarian catastrophe.
The aid coalition includes Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Save the Children. It is demanding an immediate halt on the transfer of weapons, parts and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups while there is a risk they are used to ‘commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.’
The United Nations’ Palestinian Refugee Agency has warned that around 1.7 million people have been displaced within Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the conflict is over 25,700, most of which are women and children. Islamic Relief (IR) said the figures show that 4 percent of the population of Gaza was now dead or injured.
Over 95 percent of Israel’s supply of weapons comes from the US. The UK, Italy and Germany also produce parts which are sold to Israel. The UK is home to Israeli weapon manufacturers, including Elbit Systems, which makes surveillance and armed drones. Both the UK and US administrations have been accused of playing a part in facilitating the destruction of Gaza.
Israeli soldiers take up positions near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, December 29, 2023
BRITAIN’S sick decision to suspend funding for Palestinian refugees while they face famine and mass displacement in Gaza shames our country in the eyes of the world.
We will not escape blame simply because, alongside other wealthy countries such as Germany, Italy and Canada, we are falling into line behind the United States, the first to freeze funding for the UN Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) following allegations that 12 of its 30,000 employees were involved in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
This act of inhuman cruelty further underlines the divide in international politics between the West and the rest. Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza began the gulf between the handful of US allies who facilitate its mass murder of Palestinians and the huge majority of countries which back an immediate ceasefire has yawned ever wider.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini rightly calls this collective punishment. Innocent Palestinians will starve to death because of an unproven Israeli accusation that a tiny number of its staff may have played a role in Hamas’s raid. An accusation UNRWA immediately pledged to investigate, with survivors among the named 12 already sacked.
But the collective punishment of Gaza’s population is nothing new. Over 25,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed as Israel’s merciless bombardment flattens neighbourhoods and its rampaging soldiers shoot their way into hospitals, a collective punishment for Hamas killing over 1,100 Israelis on October 7.
Image of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. UK halts aid to UNWRA in Gaza over Israeli allegations that 12 staff from a total of 13,000 were involved in the 7 October 2024 attack on Israel.
The head of the United Nations has promised to hold to account “any UN employee involved in acts of terror” after allegations that some refugee agency staff members were involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.
But Antonio Guterres implored governments to continue supporting the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) after nine countries suspended their funding.
“Any UN employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” Mr Guterres said in a statement.
“The Secretariat is ready to cooperate with a competent authority able to prosecute the individuals in line with the Secretariat’s normal procedures for such cooperation.
“The tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalised. The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”
23.05 GMT I doubt that much happened today to halt this funding since nobody is at work because it’s a Sunday. Hoping that there’s a more reasoned recognition tomorrow of the desperate situation in Gaza.
While the Court did not grant South Africa’s request for an immediate suspension of Israel’s military operations, it has ordered Israel take “all measures” to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, including by its military
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled in favor of South Africa’s request for provisional measures in its case against Israel over the ongoing war on Gaza. The request is part of an application filed by Pretoria, accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In a ruling issued on January 26, the Court determined that it had jurisdiction over the matter, and as such, rejected Israel’s request for the case to be dismissed.
While reading Friday’s ruling, Judge Joan Donoghue reiterated that at the stage for the request for provisional measures, the court is not required to ascertain whether any violations of Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention have occurred, but whether the acts complained of “appear to be capable” of falling under its provisions.
“In the court’s view, at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the Convention”, the ICJ’s order states.
The Court also recognized that the Palestinians in Gaza formed a substantial part of the Palestinian people as a protected group under Article II of the Convention, which defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
“The Court notes that the military operation being conducted by Israel following the attack of 7 October 2023 has resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries, as well as massive destruction of homes, forcible displacement of the vast majority of the population and extensive damage to civilian infrastructure.”
Donaghue went on to cite statements by the UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, who had stated on January 5 that Gaza had “become a place of death and despair”, and that its people were witnessing “daily threats to their very existence.” She also quoted statements from the WHO, as well as the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) , Philippe Lazzarini, who stated on January 13 that the “clock is ticking fast towards famine.”
The Court recognized the right of the Palestinian people to be protected from acts of genocide.
Importantly, the ICJ took note of the statements made by senior Israeli officials — statements meticulously documented in Pretoria’s application as evidence of an intent to commit genocide.
Donaghue read aloud Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant’s declaration of the “complete siege of Gaza,” his reference to Palestinians as “human animals,” and his call to “eliminate everything.” Also mentioned were Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s remarks that there is “an entire nation out there that is responsible” and “we will fight until we break their backbone.”
Noting that Israel’s military operations in Gaza strip were ongoing, quoting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the war would take “many more long months” — at a time when Palestinians did not have access to food, water, electricity, medicines or heating, as well as indications that maternal and newborn death rates are expected to increase— the Court stated that the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the court renders its final judgment.”
The Court further stated that the steps Israel had taken to address the conditions in Gaza, and the remarks by its Attorney General that a call for intentional harm to civilians may amount to a criminal offense of incitement, were insufficient.
Pending a final decision in the case, “the Court considers that there is an urgency…there is a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to the rights found by the Court to be plausible…The court concludes…that the conditions required …for provisional measures are met.”
The first provisional measure sought by South Africa was an immediate suspension of Israel’s military operations in and against Gaza. On January 25, Hamas had also stated that it would abide by a ceasefire if it was ordered by the ICJ, as long as Israel did the same.
The ICJ in its order made no mention of this request, and as observers have highlighted, did not discuss military action, a ceasefire, or the question of self-defense— in its advisory opinion in 2004, the ICJ had determined that Israel could not claim this right in relation to a territory it was occupying.
However, it has indicated a series of provisional measures, each approved with an overwhelming majority among the 17-judge-panel, which are binding in effect and place “international legal obligations” to the State Party to whom they are addressed — in this case, Israel.
First, by 15 votes to 2, Israel must “take all measures within its powers to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of the Convention.” These acts include a) killing members of the group, b) causing serious bodily or mental harm” and c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part and d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Second, with 15 votes in favor, Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1. By 16 to 1 votes, Israel shall take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to Palestinians in Gaza.
Fourth, with 16 votes, Israel has been ordered to “take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life” in Gaza. By 15 to two votes, Israel must also take “effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence” related to allegations under the Genocide Convention. In its application, South Africa had also requested that Israel “shall not act to deny or otherwise restrict access by fact-finding missions, international mandates and other bodies to Gaza to assist in ensuring the preservation and retention of said evidence.”
Finally, Israel has to submit a report to the ICJ on “all measures taken to give effect to this order” within one month as from the date of the order (January 26). This was approved with 15 votes in favor.
Under the statute of the ICJ, it will now notify the UN Security Council of the provisional measures ordered. Given that the Court lacks an enforcement mechanism, questions remain on how these measures will be operationalized.
Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to Friday’s ruling by calling the charge of genocide as “false” and “outrageous,” adding that “Israel would continue to defend itself against Hamas.”
Senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zahri, told Reuters that the ruling was an “important development that contributes to isolating the occupation and exposing its crimes in Gaza. We call for compelling the occupation to implement the court’s decision.”
The Palestinian foreign ministry stated that the ruling “breaks Israel’s entrenched culture of criminality and impunity, which has characterized its decades-long occupation, dispossession, persecution and apartheid in Palestine…Governments must ensure that they are not complicit in this genocide…This is now a binding legal obligation.”
The Court’s ruling will raise significant questions of the obligations of other State Parties to the Genocide Convention.
As South Africa noted in its statement on Friday, “Third States are now on notice of the existence of a serious risk of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. They must, therefore, also act independently and immediately to prevent genocide by Israel and to ensure that they are not themselves in violation of the Genocide Convention including by aiding or assisting in the commission of genocide.”
“This necessarily imposes an obligation on all States to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions, which are plausibly genocidal.”
It further warned that “the veto power wielded by individual states [in the Security Council] cannot be permitted to thwart international justice, not least in light of the ever-worsening situation in Gaza brought about by Israel’s acts and omissions in violation of the Genocide Convention.”
