UN experts urge ‘immediate’ stop of arms transfers to Israel

UN experts urge ‘immediate’ stop of arms transfers to Israel
Children stand next to a fallen wall bearing a mural painting amid the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah on Feb. 22, 2024, amid continuing battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Updated 23 February 2024
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UN experts urge ‘immediate’ stop of arms transfers to Israel

UN experts urge ‘immediate’ stop of arms transfers to Israel
  • Transfers are prohibited even if exporting state does not intend arms to be used in violation of law
  • ‘Israel has repeatedly failed to comply with international law,’ say experts

GENEVA: Any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately, UN experts warned on Friday.
“All states must ‘ensure respect’ for international humanitarian law by parties to an armed conflict, as required by 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law,” a media statement quoted the experts as saying.
“States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition — or parts for them — if it is expected, given the facts or past patterns of behavior, that they would be used to violate international law.”
According to the experts, such transfers are prohibited even if the exporting state does not intend the arms to be used in violation of the law — or does not know with certainty that they would be used in such a way — as long as there is a clear risk.
Meanwhile, the UN experts welcomed the decision of a Dutch appeals court on Feb. 12 ordering the Netherlands to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.
The court found that there was a “clear risk” that the parts would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law, as “there are many indications that Israel has violated the humanitarian law of war in a not insignificant number of cases.”
Israel has repeatedly failed to comply with international law, said the experts.
They noted that states party to the Arms Trade Treaty have additional treaty obligations to deny arms exports if they “know” that the arms “would” be used to commit international crimes, or if there is an “overriding risk” that the arms transferred “could” be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.
EU member states are further bound by the bloc’s arms export control laws.
“The need for an arms embargo on Israel is heightened by the International Court of Justice’s ruling on Jan. 26, 2024, that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then,” the experts said.
The Genocide Convention of 1948 requires states parties to employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent genocide in another state as far as possible.
“This necessitates halting arms exports in the present circumstances,” the experts added.
They further welcomed the suspension of arms transfers to Israel by Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the Japanese company Itochu Corp.
The EU also recently discouraged arms exports to Israel.
Moreover, the experts urged other states to immediately halt arms transfers to Israel, including export licenses and military aid.
The US and Germany are by far the largest arms exporters and shipments have increased since the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7. Other military exporters include France, the UK, Canada and Australia.
The experts further noted that arms transfers to Hamas and other armed groups are also prohibited by international law, given their grave violations of international humanitarian law during the October attack, including hostage-taking and subsequent indiscriminate rocket fire.
The duty to “ensure respect” for humanitarian law applies “in all circumstances”, including when Israel claims it is countering terrorism.
Military intelligence must also not be shared where there is a clear risk that it would be used to violate international humanitarian law.
“State officials involved in arms exports may be individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes, crimes against humanity or acts of genocide,” the experts said.


Israeli soldier’s remains returned from Gaza: army

Israeli soldier’s remains returned from Gaza: army
Updated 29 August 2024
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Israeli soldier’s remains returned from Gaza: army

Israeli soldier’s remains returned from Gaza: army
  • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the soldier “fell in a heroic battle” and that “the heart of the entire nation grieves over the terrible loss”

JERUSALEM: The remains of an Israeli soldier killed in Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the Gaza war have been recovered and returned to his family, the Israeli army said Wednesday.
In an overnight operation “a fallen (Israel Defense Forces) soldier who was abducted on October 7th and held hostage in the Gaza Strip was rescued and returned to the State of Israel,” an army statement said.
“At the request of his family, his name will not be published. We send our deepest condolences to the family and will continue to accompany them.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the soldier “fell in a heroic battle” and that “the heart of the entire nation grieves over the terrible loss.”
Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the return of the soldier’s remains offered “important closure” for the family, but demanded a negotiated deal to release those still held captive in Gaza since October 7.
“We must not be misled — the remaining hostages don’t have the luxury of waiting for rescue operations,” the group said in a statement.
Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
The Palestinian militants also abducted 251 people, 103 of whom are still captive in Gaza including 33 the military says are dead.
On Tuesday the Israeli army announced that one hostage, a 52-year-old Israeli Bedouin man, had been rescued from a Gaza tunnel.
On Wednesday, as he left a medical center, the rescued man, Kaid Farhan Alkadi, said international mediators needed to secure a ceasefire.
“Those in Qatar and Egypt need to put an end to this. They travel and return to the negotiations, this is a waste of fuel,” he said.
“You have to sit together until white smoke comes out and be done with it.”
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,534 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
“My joy is not complete because I know that there are other hostages here and there, it doesn’t matter if he is Arab or Jewish,” Alkadi said.
“There is a family waiting for him and they want to be happy, so I hope and pray that there will be an end to this thing.”


The roadblocks slowing ICC prosecutor’s pursuit of justice for Israel-Hamas war crimes 

The roadblocks slowing ICC prosecutor’s pursuit of justice for Israel-Hamas war crimes 
Updated 8 min 46 sec ago
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The roadblocks slowing ICC prosecutor’s pursuit of justice for Israel-Hamas war crimes 

The roadblocks slowing ICC prosecutor’s pursuit of justice for Israel-Hamas war crimes 
  • ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has asserted the court’s jurisdiction over war crimes charges against Israeli and Hamas leaders
  • Numerous legal submissions, including from governments, have challenged the ICC’s authority, delaying the court’s ruling

LONDON: Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has urged judges to reject legal challenges disputing the court’s power to issue arrest warrants for Israeli nationals, confirming the warrants are well within the ICC’s purview.

Khan applied for warrants in May for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif — on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. (AFP/File)

Haniyeh has since been killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Tehran, while unconfirmed reports suggest Deif was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza. Sinwar, meanwhile, has been appointed as the militant group’s new political chief.

“It is settled law that the court has jurisdiction in this situation,” Khan wrote in court filings made public on Aug. 23, dismissing legal arguments filed by over 60 governments, organizations and individuals opposing the warrants.

The court’s Pre-trial Chamber was expected to issue a ruling on the warrants by the end of July, but the many submissions have slowed the process. Khan warned that “any unjustified delay in these proceedings detrimentally affects the rights of victims.”

Yemenis lift a large portrait of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh during a rally in Sanaa in support of the Palestinians. Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, presumably by Israelis. (AFP)

Khan requested the arrest warrants to hold accountable those who are alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and Israel’s retaliatory operation in the Gaza Strip.

However, in early June, the UK government requested permission to file an “amicus curiae” brief on whether a provision of the 1993 Oslo Accords peace deal could overrule the ICC’s jurisdiction over Israeli nationals.

On September 28, 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (2nd-L) and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat (2nd-R) signed a Palestinian autonomy accord in the West Bank in what has become known as the Oslo Accord. (AFP/File)

As part of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority agreed it does not have criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals. In his 49-page legal brief, Khan said the chamber considered the observations on the Oslo Accords to be an issue of “potential relevance.”

Other governments, including Germany, followed suit, with several also arguing the ICC should wait for Israel to conclude its own internal investigation into the allegations.

In his Aug. 23 legal brief, Khan rejected Israel’s claim that it is carrying out its own investigation into alleged war crimes. He argued that “the available information does not show that Israel is investigating substantially the same conduct as the ICC.

Several governments have pushed for the ICC to wait for Israel to conclude its own internal investigation into war crimes charges raised before the court. (Supplied)

Having initially led the charge against the ICC’s arrest warrants under its previous Conservative administration, Britain’s new Labour government dropped the Oslo challenge in late July, despite pressure from the US and Israel, neither of which is a signatory to the ICC.

Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, says the right of Palestinians to prosecute war crimes against them “cannot be negotiated away.”

He said a ruling in July by the International Court of Justice, which deemed Israel’s occupation and annexation of the Palestinian territories to be illegal, addressed the argument as to whether the Oslo Accords mean the Palestinians have waived their rights.

A general view shows the land of the Palestinian Kisiya family in the Al-Makhrour area of Beit Jala in Bethlehem, which was seized by Jewish landgrabbers aoded by the Israeli government. (AFP)

“It cited Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which says negotiations between occupier and occupied cannot deprive people of rights under the convention — a wise precaution given inherent power imbalances,” Roth told Arab News.

“The court was addressing the issue of Israel’s illegal settlements, but the same logic applies to Palestinians’ right to prosecute war crimes. That is not a right that can be negotiated away, meaning that the recognized state of Palestine has the right to confer that jurisdiction as needed to the International Criminal Court.”

Hamas led a surprise cross-border attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 1,100 people and taking a further 250 hostage — most of them civilians. Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and ground offensive against the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Family members and supporters of hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas militants during their deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, have been holding continuous protest actions in an effort to bring back the hostages. (REUTERS)

Since the Israeli operation began, at least 40,400 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry, civilian infrastructure has been reduced to rubble, and more than 90 percent of the enclave’s population has been displaced.

Israel, which launched its Gaza mission in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack with the stated aim of destroying Hamas and other militant groups, insists it does not target civilians, instead accusing Palestinian militants of using civilians as human shields.

Commenting on the other legal challenge being brought against the ICC, Roth criticized the German government’s argument that the court should wait for Israel to end its operation in Gaza before pursuing arrest warrants

Palestinians bury their dead at a cemetery in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, in this picture taken on February 21, 2024. Continuing Israeli strikes have killed at more than 40,400 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023. (AFP Photo/File)

“The German government has gone so far as to claim that the ICC should not prosecute any Israeli while the war in Gaza continues because it is too difficult for Israeli prosecutors to work right now,” he said.

“That is an argument that Germany notably did not make when Putin was charged,” he added, drawing a comparison with attitudes to the arrest warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children.

“More to the point, it is wrong. Military prosecutors (around) the world operate during wars.”

For Roth, waiting until the fighting has ended would only encourage further human rights violations. “No one believes that the prosecution of war crimes should wait until all fighting ceases,” he said. “That would only encourage more war crimes.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (AFP)

He added: “In any event, Israeli prosecutors have been on notice for months that Netanyahu and Gallant were being investigated for their starvation strategy in Gaza, but there has been no public notice of any Israeli investigation of them.

“That is consistent with the longstanding Israeli practice of never prosecuting senior Israeli officials.”

The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant specifically allege the two Israeli ministers bear responsibility for “starving civilians as a method of warfare” in the Gaza Strip by obstructing the delivery of humanitarian relief.

Infographic showing the drastic drop in hurelief aid entering Gaza. Israel has been accused of obstructing the entry of humanitarian relief as part of a systematic effort to starve Palestinians in the enclav. (AFP/File)

Another legal objection to the warrants concerns equating the actions of Hamas with those of Israel. The German government has rejected any comparison between the two, stressing Israel’s “right and duty to protect and defend its people.”

Nevertheless, if an arrest warrant is issued, Germany, like other ICC member states, would be legally obliged to arrest the two Israeli leaders if they were to enter the EU country.

Despite the current impediments, Roth is hopeful that justice will be delivered to the victims of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“It may still take a month or two for the ICC judges to sort through these arguments, but I anticipate the arrest warrants will be issued in the reasonably near term,” he said.

“At that stage, no one charged will be able to travel to any of the 124 ICC member states which have a duty to arrest them. That lays a foundation of hope that we will see justice done.”
 

 


Gaza teen amputee recalls nightmare of losing arms

Gaza teen amputee recalls nightmare of losing arms
Updated 28 August 2024
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Gaza teen amputee recalls nightmare of losing arms

Gaza teen amputee recalls nightmare of losing arms

GAZA: Teenager Diaa Al-Adini was one of the few Palestinians who found a functioning hospital in war-ravaged Gaza after he was wounded by an Israeli strike. But he did not have much time to recuperate after doctors amputated both of his arms.

Adini, 15, suddenly had to flee the overwhelmed medical facility after the Israeli military ordered people to leave before an attack in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. He made it to an American field hospital.

Scrambling to save your life is especially difficult for Palestinians like Adini, who require urgent medical care but get caught up in the chaos of the war.

Memories of better days provide limited relief from reality in Gaza. Israeli strikes have reduced most of one of the most crowded places on earth to rubble as rows and rows of homes are destroyed.

“We used to swim, challenge each other, and sleep, me and my friend Mohammed Al-Serei. We used to jump in the water and float on it,” said Adini, who walked on a beach with his sister Aya recalling the few distractions from before.

His sister placed a towel over the place where his arms used to be and wiped his mouth.

The strike hit when he was in a makeshift coffee house.

The teenager, who spent 12 days in hospital before he was displaced also lost his aunt, her children and grandchildren in the war.

“As for my arms, I can get other ones fitted but I cannot replace my aunt,” he said.

All Palestinians can do is hope for treatment at the few functional hospitals as they face a humanitarian crisis — severe shortages of food, fuel, power and medicine, as raw sewage increases the chance of disease.

“God willing, I will continue my treatment in the American hospital, and get limbs,” said Adini.

He dreams of being like other children one day — to live a good life, get an education, drive cars and have fun. His sister Aya hopes that he can go back to his camera and iPad.


Iran says Houthis agree to truce so tugboats can reach damaged oil tanker

Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23, on the Red Sea.
Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23, on the Red Sea.
Updated 28 August 2024
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Iran says Houthis agree to truce so tugboats can reach damaged oil tanker

Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23, on the Red Sea.
  • The Sounion was targeted last week by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah
  • It was still on fire in the Red Sea and now appears to be leaking oil, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday

UNITED NATIONS: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has agreed to a temporary truce to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach the damaged Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said on Wednesday.
“Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the Houthis), requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area,” Iran’s UN mission said. “In consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns, Ansarullah has consented to this request.”
The Sounion was targeted last week by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah. It was still on fire in the Red Sea and now appears to be leaking oil, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said they attacked it. The group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
Yemen’s Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters on Wednesday there is no temporary truce and the group only agreed on allowing the towing of oil tanker Sounion after several international parties contacted the group.
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday that a third party had tried to send two tugs to help salvage the Sounion, but the Houthis threatened to attack them.
Iran’s UN mission responded on Wednesday: “The failure to provide aid and prevent an oil spill in the Red Sea stems from the negligence of certain countries, rather than concerns over the possibility of being targeted.


WFP suspends Gaza movment after vehicle hit by bullets near Israeli checkpoint

WFP temporarily suspended movements across the Gaza Strip after one of its vehicles was struck by bullets.
WFP temporarily suspended movements across the Gaza Strip after one of its vehicles was struck by bullets.
Updated 28 August 2024
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WFP suspends Gaza movment after vehicle hit by bullets near Israeli checkpoint

WFP temporarily suspended movements across the Gaza Strip after one of its vehicles was struck by bullets.
  • WFP said in a statement that the convoy of two armored vehicles had received “multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach” the checkpoint

UNITED NATIONS: The World Food Programme said Wednesday it was pausing movement of its staff in Gaza “until further notice” after one of its vehicles was struck by gunfire at an Israeli military checkpoint.
“This is totally unacceptable and the latest in a series of unnecessary security incidents that have endangered the lives of WFP’s team in Gaza,” Cindy McCain, head of the UN food agency, said of the Tuesday incident in which no one was injured.
The vehicle was hit at least ten times as it approached the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint at the Wadi Gaza bridge after completing a mission in southern Gaza, the WFP said in a statement.
The agency shared an image of a white, UN-branded truck with its windows seemingly damaged by several bullets.
Earlier, the United Nations said that Israeli military gunfire had damaged a UN humanitarian vehicle as it took part in a convoy in Gaza that was coordinated with the IDF.
“A clearly marked UN humanitarian vehicle, part of a convoy that had been fully coordinated with the IDF was struck 10 times by IDF gunfire, including with bullets targeting front windows,” UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that the two occupants were unharmed.
“We have no way to assess the mindset of those who are shooting at us,” Dujarric said, noting that it was not clear if information about the convoy’s movement shared with Israeli authorities was passed down.
It is not the first instance of UN vehicles being hit since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
In May, a UN staff member from India was killed when their vehicle was struck by what the United Nations said was tank fire in southern Gaza.