International law updates.
Mexico, Chile ask International Criminal Court to investigate possible war crimes in Gaza
In this preliminary phase of the case, the court
ordered Israel to do more to prevent the killing and harm of Palestinians in Gaza.
The ICJ’s rulings are legally binding, but require U.N. Security Council resolutions for there to be genuine mechanisms, like sanctions, to implement them — something that’s unlikely in this context given the United States’ long-standing practice of shielding Israel from international censure. But the fact that Israel has participated vigorously in the proceedings may mean it could find it harder to shrug off a ruling it does not like.
South Africa is not alone. Lining up behind it is
a cast of countries from the so-called Global South — from Brazil to Turkey, Colombia to
Bangladesh. Countries like Chile and Mexico have also referred alleged Israeli crimes for investigation by the International Criminal Court. According to
a tally by Sarang Shidore and Dan Ford of the Quincy Institute, governments that represent some 60 percent of the population of “Global South” countries are now either leading or backing international legal action against Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said the operation targeted militants who were “hiding” in the hospital. In a statement, the IDF said Mohammed Jalamneh, a
Hamas fighter, and brothers Mohamed and Basil Ghazawi were “neutralized.”
Hamas confirmed that Jalamneh was a member of the group. Another militant group, Islamic Jihad, said Mohamed and Basil Ghazawi were members and that Basil had been receiving treatment at the hospital.
Ibn Sina spokesman Tawfiq al-Shobaki confirmed that Basil Ghazawi had been receiving treatment in the hospital since October. He said he was paralyzed.
There was no exchange of fire before the Israeli forces shot the men, Shobaki said.
[Even militants] "would have enjoyed immunity from attack if they were wounded or sick and refrained from any acts of hostilities against Israeli forces,” he said. “Targeting those who are
hors de combat” — outside the fighting, because of injury or other reasons — or “otherwise protected is a violation of the law of armed conflict.”
Israeli agents disguised as medical staff and patients pulled out rifles, subdued hospital workers and headed for Room 376.
The
agents shot and killed the patient there — he had been wounded months earlier in an Israeli airstrike — as well as his brother and a friend.
Legal experts said it’s likely that the hospital attack violated international laws governing conduct during war, including one that prohibits combatants from posing as doctors or other civilians, and another that bars the killing of adversaries who have been wounded.
The commandos dressed as doctors, nurses and patients. One was disguised as a woman in a headscarf and holding a bundle meant to look like a baby. Another sat in a wheelchair. When they reached the third floor, they whipped out assault rifles from under their clothes, according to surveillance video. Hospital staff said that there was no exchange of fire, and that the three men in Room 376 were shot in the head with silenced pistols.
Dr. Tawfiq Shobaki, a spokesman for the hospital, said the staff had been treating 18-year-old Basel Ghazawi since October, when an airstrike by Israel caused a spinal injury that left his lower body paralyzed.
The two other slain men were Ghazawi’s 23-year-old brother, Mohammed, and a friend, 27-year-old Mohammed Jalamneh. Israel said Jalamneh was planning an imminent attack purportedly inspired by Hamas’ Oct. 7 onslaught.
