Update on the case from Amnesty and Human Rights Watch
May 2025
Amnesty has issued an update on this case which is currently before the Appeal Court. There is a video clip attached.
See also a post from Human Rights Watch;
“How could they have allowed that to happen?ย This is the question everyone asks, years later, when looking back at mass atrocity crimes in the past. Everythingโs so clear when itโs described in history books โ war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocideโฆ ย
Itโs not that these things arenโt clear at the time exactly. In fact, in recent decades, they have often been well-documented in excruciating detail more or less as they happen.ย Yet, somehow, when these things are unfolding in real time, some folks seem unable โ maybe, more often, unwilling โ to accept the evidence of their eyes and ears. Various considerations distract international leaders in particular: prejudices, alliances, politics… ย
Thereย can never be any justification for the worst kinds of crimesย known to humanity, but that doesnโt keep leaders from trying to offer some.ย And with that, you move toward the future answer to the future question: The world at the time had leaders who refused to take a stand and defend humanity when it mattered most. ย
Today, everyone can see Israel has been committing atrocities in Gaza during hostilities since October 7, 2023. Weโve seen systematic destruction ofโฏhomes,โฏapartment buildings,โฏorchards and fields,โฏschools,โฏhospitals, andโฏwater and sanitation facilities. Israel has also openly usedโฏstarvation as a weapon of war.
These actions amount toโฏwar crimes,โฏcrimes against humanityโฏincluding extermination, and acts of genocide.ย Now, theย Israeli governmentโs latest planย has made its intentions even clearer. They want to demolish what remains of Gazaโs civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population (about 2 million people) into one tiny area.ย
Israeli government ministers couldnโt make things any more obvious. They say Israel is โfinally going to conquer the Gaza Strip.โโฏThey threaten that Gaza will be โcompletely destroyedโ and say its Palestinian population will โleave in great numbers to third countries.โ
Some Israeli officials say the Palestinian exodus will be โvoluntary.โ However, itโs hard to call it voluntary, when Israel has deliberately destroyed the areaโs ability to sustain human life.
If implemented, the plan would amount to an abhorrent escalation of extermination. In fact, Israelโs plan is so obviously extreme and has been made so extremely obvious, it should trigger international action under the Genocide Conventionโs โduty to prevent.โ
Theย 1948 Genocide Conventionย is an international agreement that embodies the spirit of โnever again.โ It says a โduty to preventโ genocide arises as soon as a state learns, or should normally have learned, of a serious risk that genocide may be committed. ย One hundred and fifty-three countries have signed up to the Convention. These include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.ย
Yet, these are some of the very countries that have been supporting the government of Israel most throughout its carnage in Gaza, not least by continuing to provide Israel with weapons even after the atrocities were undeniable.
Israelโs latest plan should finally, at long last, shake London, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, and Washington to their core. It should make them see beyond everyday politics, to their responsibility to humanity and history โ and to their legal obligation to act.
Without that, the question one day may indeed be, โHow could they have allowed that to happen?โ And everyone will know the answer.” Human Rights Watch
May 15th







