Israeli authorities’ blocking again of all aid from entering Gaza in flagrant violation of international law, abuses amid renewed airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza, which have killed hundreds of women and children since March 18 according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and increasing use of abusive tactics from Gaza in their escalating campaign in the West Bank have been facilitated by the failure of states for months to act in the face of well-documented atrocities.
Human Rights Watch documented in November the widespread and systematic deliberate forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, many of them multiple times over, reflecting state policy and without plausible justification and therefore amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and, at least in parts of Gaza, ethnic cleansing. In December, we found that Israeli authorities have deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the Palestinian population in Gaza, including by deliberately depriving them of food, water, and other objects necessary for their survival, amounting to the crime against humanity of extermination and acts of genocide.
Some states continue to transfer arms and other military support to Israel, undermine the International Criminal Court, and the United States called for further forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza, effectively green lighting Israeli authorities to continue to commit genocidal acts.
Governments should urgently act to prevent further mass atrocities, including by suspending arms transfers to Israel, supporting the International Criminal Court and executing its arrest warrants, and imposing targeted sanctions on officials responsible for laws-of-war violations.
