RAMALLAH, Saturday, October 21, 2023 (WAFA) - On 19 October, 100 civil society organizations (CSOs), including Palestinian organizations monitoring and documenting violations of international humanitarian law against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip, and Genocide Scholars sent a letter to Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) urging him to immediately intervene in relation to the latest Israeli large-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
“Specifically, we are calling on the Court to urgently issue arrest warrants for the cases currently before your office; to investigate the crimes which have taken place and are being orchestrated across the occupied Palestinian territory since 7 October; to issue a preventive statement and visit Palestine before the end of 2023,” they said in their letter.
On 7 October, Israel launched a large-scale retaliatory military offensive on Gaza aimed at regime change, annexation and the reduction of the Gaza Strip to rubble. The Israeli military forces have, since then, indiscriminately targeted the 2.3 million civilian population, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, mosques and hospitals as part of total warfare on the population. They have sealed off the territory and employed other unlawful means and methods, that include collective punishment, forcible transfer, starvation, and the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas. As a result, over 4,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including at least 1,500 children, with approximately 13,000 injured since the start of the operation on 7 October.
Among those killed in the first four days of the offensive alone are at least 12 health workers and seven journalists. In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Israeli military and settlers have killed 85 Palestinians and injured at least 1,300 others since 7 October.
The letter accused the Israeli authorities of committing a number of international crimes against the Palestinian people that fall under the jurisdiction of the Court, including willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, civilian objects, humanitarian workers, ambulances, hospitals and places of worship, extensive destruction of property, persecution of the civilian population, and incitement to genocide.
Alarmingly, they said, Israeli officials have been issuing statements that indicate a clear intent to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and incitement to commit genocide, using dehumanizing language to describe Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to reduce Gaza to “rubble”, and told besieged Palestinians to leave Gaza. Israeli military spokesperson R. Adm. Daniel Hagari made the startling admission that “hundreds of tons of bombs” had already been dropped on the Gaza Strip, adding that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.” Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, stated: “We are imposing a complete siege on [Gaza]. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel – everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly”. The Coordinator of the Government in the Territories (COGAT), Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, announced that “Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza, no electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted hell, you will get hell”. Nissim Vaturi, a member of the Knesset for Likud, called for “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth. Those who are unable will be replaced.” Another member of the Knesset for Likud, Ariel Kallner, called for another Nakba: “Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join!” Israel’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eli Cohen, promised that “[a]t the end of this war, not only will Hamas no longer be in Gaza, the territory of Gaza will also decrease”.
The statements accompanied by military action in Gaza and the escalation of arrests and killing in the West Bank, promoted a joint warning from UN Special Rapporteurs that “there is also a risk of genocide against the Palestine people”.
The organizations said they are “similarly alarmed by these statements, which warrant your urgent intervention to prevent the commission of the most heinous international crimes, elements of which are already materializing on the ground with every passing minute. Our organizations warn that the cutting off of water, electricity and internet in Gaza, in addition to the denial of entry of humanitarian convoys of food, medicine, and other supplies necessary for the survival of the population that would pass through the Rafah crossing, which the Israeli military has also repeatedly bombed, are all evidence that Israel is taking steps to act on its inciteful genocidal statements.”
The letter added that on 13 October, the Israeli military ordered 1.1 million Palestinians (half of Gaza’s population) in Gaza City and the Northern area to evacuate within 24 hours to the south of the Gaza Valley (Wadi Gaza). Not only was this order impossible and unfeasible to implement due to the narrow window of time allowed, the geographic scope of the order, and the circumstances surrounding its application, but the UN warned it “will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into the abyss”. Such an evacuation in the absence of imperative military necessity amounts to a prohibited method of warfare, and may, if it becomes permanent, amount to forcible transfer and displacement.
Reports from the ground indicate that a large number of civilians were unable to evacuate northern Gaza, particularly the wounded and sick, the elderly and those without means of transport. Ordering the evacuation and then following this with intensive shelling of civilian homes is tantamount to a death sentence for those who are vulnerable and unable to leave. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 70 Palestinians have already been killed, and 150 others injured by Israeli airstrikes on 13 October 2023. The attacks occurred during the 24-hour window as people fled from the northern Gaza Strip through Salah Al-Din Road - one of the two ‘safe routes’ designated for the evacuation by the Israeli military. On 17 October 2023 the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab/Baptist Hospital and a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in northern Gaza, where thousands of displaced Palestinians had sought refuge, resulted in the killing of at least 500 persons, including women and children. Israel’s scorched earth policy in the Gaza Strip has resulted in the indiscriminate and disproportionate targeting of civilians, wiping out entire families, including women and children. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 50 families have been eradicated, and 1,200 bodies, among them around 500 children, are believed to be trapped under the rubble awaiting recovery.
“We reiterate that it remains the Court’s role to contribute to the prevention of crimes as enshrined in the preamble of the Rome Statute, a role which is most effectively assumed by the Prosecutor,” said the organizations. The practice of the former Prosecutor of “issue[ing] public, preventive statements in order to deter the escalation of violence and the further commission of crimes, to put perpetrators on notice and to promote national proceedings,” allowed the Prosecutor to react promptly to upsurges of violence and remain relevant to the victims’ suffering and concerns, particularly given that legal investigations take time until proceedings are initiated. Such statements have indeed proven an effective deterrent effect, as was the case with the planned forced displacement of the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community in the West Bank, which the Israeli authorities did not pursue apparently to avoid an ICC investigation.
In light of this, the organizations emphasize the invaluable persuasive effect of the Prosecutor’s voice and called on the ICC Prosecutor to:
1. Immediately issue arrest warrants for the cases of international crimes committed by Israeli authorities and military personnel, as identified by the submission of the Prosecutor to the Pre-Trial Chamber. International impunity from the prolonged delay in issuing the arrest warrants is fueling more aggressive and unconstrained rounds of hostilities, with mounting civilian casualties;
2. Investigate and prosecute international crimes by the Israeli authorities and military since 7 October that have been orchestrated across the occupied Palestinian territory, as a matter of priority;
3. Issue an official preventive statement affirming that the crimes committed during Israel’s military offensive on Gaza will be included in the investigation into the Situation of Palestine, including war crimes, crimes against humanity (including that of apartheid), and incitement to genocide, and to urgently expedite your ongoing investigation;
4. Visit Palestine, as you have pledged to do during the 2022 Assembly of States Parties, before the end of 2023;
5. Remind all states to align their positions on the current situation with their obligations in international law, particularly international humanitarian law;
6. Operating under Part 9 of the Rome Statute, call upon Jordan and Palestine, as States Parties to the Rome Statute, and other non-state parties, including Egypt, to cooperate with your Office in facilitating the opening of a county office in Palestine, and in arranging an urgent visit to Palestine, especially to Gaza; and
7. Take any appropriate action, within the confines of the exercise of your mandate under the Rome Statute, to prevent and deter Israeli apartheid officials and Israeli occupation forces from committing more atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people.
M.K.