2y ago

Impeding relief aid to Gaza may be a crime under ICC jurisdiction, prosecutor says

www.reuters.com

Impeding relief supplies to Gaza's population may constitute a crime under the International Criminal Court's (ICC) jurisdiction, the court's top prosecutor told a news conference in Egypt on Sunday.
Karim Khan also said Israel must make "discernable efforts, without further delay to make sure civilians receive basic foods, medicine".

Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has previously rejected the court's jurisdiction and does not formally engage with its investigations.

16 comments

Honestly given the sheer amount of war crime that Israel has committed already I’d be shocked if this doesn’t instantly fizzle out.
what does that mean in this context though? got curious so I looked it up:
the ICC does not have its own police force or enforcement body; thus, it relies on cooperation with countries worldwide for support
is the UN going to force open the border and then guard the convoy? no - the UN is basically powerless here. Arab majority countries in the area that really hate Israel (Iran, some members of the Arab League, etc) might get pressured into doing something, but I rather suspect they wont stick their necks out for a tiny bit of land on the wrong side of the Israeli border - the amount of risk involved isnt really worth it.
no, even if the ICC did rule against Israel, it really wouldnt change anything. this feels more like some nobody prosecutor trying to make a name for himself. it's cheap and easy PR.
- It may not physically change things on the ground but it’ll be a harder for Western countries to support Israel as the “good guys”.
  Every little bit helps, the more of the world that learns Israel and condemns them the better.
  
  Western nations, many of whom have their own dark history of settler colonialism, would rather abandon the ICC than acknowledge Israeli war crimes. Mark my words.
- It's still a good legal exercise for lawyers to go if we did have jurisdiction it would have broken our rules. And they can argue about that. Waiting for the day they get jurisdiction.
  For what it's worth I believe the Palestinian territories have signed the ICC agreement. So it would be a very interesting question of law, if the Palestinians delivered ICC violators to the ICC in the EU. That would be a real sticky situation
  
  it's an interesting thought experiment for sure - though I'm not sure how a Palestinian force would really be able to prove it's a rendition and not kidnapping (and what the fallout of that would be). is photographic evidence permissible or would they need a witnessed statement/admission of guilt, etc?
- I don't think calling out Israeli war crimes is "good for PR", especially since Israel has been on a fucking crusade to stop people from saying anything funny.
- This is how international law has always worked. The fact that you can't always enforce it doesn't prevent making rulings. Domestic law will sometimes work the same way in some cases
- Isn't it the same as issuing arrest warrants against Putin?
  
  Not quite, because that warrant actually does prevent Putin from going to a lot of countries, and it has made the coward afraid of even going to countries which have openly stated that they won't enforce the warrant (like South Africa).
This is the best summary I could come up with:
CAIRO Oct 29 (Reuters) - Impeding relief supplies to Gaza's population may constitute a crime under the International Criminal Court's (ICC) jurisdiction, the court's top prosecutor told a news conference in Egypt on Sunday.
Aid supplies to Gaza have been minimal since Israel began bombarding the densely populated Palestinian enclave in response to a deadly attack by its ruling militant group Hamas on Oct. 7.
Israeli officials have said that food, water and medicines have been coming in through the Egyptian border and that it expected the quantities to rise.
United Nations officials have said the aid supplies are limited and do not correspond to the huge need on the ground.
In an unannounced visit, the ICC prosecutor went to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza earlier in the day and posted a video statement from his location on X social media.
Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has previously rejected the court's jurisdiction and does not formally engage with its investigations.
The original article contains 269 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 38%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

16 comments