Systematic crimes have already been committed in Gaza on a horrific scale: Analysis

Gaza there are growing international calls for an investigation into Mass Graves that have been discovered in the south of the strip the European Union has now joined the United Nations in demanding an independent Probe on Wednesday another 51 bodies were found in the grounds of the hospital in Khan units more than 300 have been discovered since Saturday we are gravely concerned by the by the reported discovery of M graves in Khan Yunis and in alifa hospital this is something that uh for forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances uh because indeed uh it uh it creates the the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committee that's why it's important to have independent investigation and to ensure the accountability the United Nations and the European union now calling for an independent investigation into those Mass Graves but what's that going to look like well Luigi daniielle is a senior lecturer in international law and international criminal law at Nottingham law school and he was among the academics invited by human rights organizations to discuss the special rapporter Gaza genocide report at the UN Human Rights Council he's joining us live now from London thank you very much indeed from being with us Aid agencies and foreign governments and the UN itself have been Gathering to some degree or another evidence to suggest that Israel has been committing war crimes in Gaza since October of last year why has nothing happened yet and will this call for an independent investigation into this case actually make any difference thanks Rob for the question it's 6 months we are witnessing reports by a multiplicity of credible human rights organizations media Outlets documenting Relentless targeting of civilians or otherwise protected Palestinians um at least 251 Aid workers have been killed uh the Office of the coordination of humanitarian Affairs counts 490 health workers killed since the beginning of this military campaign so it's true that there have been no concrete results of existing investigations but we don't know if nothing has happened because the international criminal court was already investigating probable International Crimes by both parties to this conflict and the prosecutor of the international criminal court has made clear in multiple occasions that the court is investigating also probable crimes committed by the Israeli Army uh so there is a distinct likelihood that arrest warrants are imminent even for Israeli leaders but let me stress that they are long overdue uh Injustice and systematic crimes have have already been committed on a horrific scale as these Mass Graves demonstrates so the International Community should pressure uh immediate arrest warrants to try to prevent the continuation of these crimes as you said the the procedure of uh bringing a prosecution at the international criminal court takes a significant amount of time we've covered many of those cases here in Al jaer and they invariably seem to spread over years do you think that the threat of being prosecuted at the international criminal court actually is regarded as a severe Threat by people who perhaps in some cases have actually committed war crimes yes to be honest Israeli media Outlets have reported a few days ago an emergency meeting of the Israeli executive out of fear of imminent arrest warrants unfortunate unfortunately the fact that these investigations are extremely complex take long time it's of no justification in this case because consider that the first engagement of the Palestinian Authority with the international criminal court demanding justice for all crimes is of almost 10 years ago and this investigation has been pending for years uh in relation to the second part of your question uh unfortunately the Israeli executive has repeatedly communicated uh to feel Above the Law of war and above international criminal law so irrespective of these Israeli leaders perception uh about International crimes it's The credibility of an international rules based system that needs these arrest warrants to restore the minimum levels of international legality that are needed in the long run to achieve a just peace if if you deprive victims of these horrific crimes of any form of recognition of their victimization uh you are not working for a just peace and for equal rights on the contrary this failure reproduces spirals of Civilian victimization and so the same mistake cannot be committed anymore sorry to interrupt you but just briefly on that because you've ra raised a very interesting point I mean in the event that prosecutions were brought how confident could people affected on both sides by this war be that somebody is actually going to be held to a to account and I'm talking about people on both sides of the conflict who have lost family members and uh and Friends exactly this is a crucial issue because all the relatives of civilians killed injured targeted unlawfully on all sides of these uh seemingly Lawless Conflict at the moment deserve justice and I think the likelihood of accountability if the situation is unblocked is high uh I cannot do it but should I read to you the 54 war crimes conduct codified in the Rome statute of the international criminal court dozens of them appear to have been committed so once this uh Pro prosecution gets to the next stage it will take time but we can be confident that some degree of accountability can be achieved this is not enough to reach a just solution to this conflict but it's for sure an essential prerequisite to go into this direction Luigi danieli we appreciate you giving us the benefit of your expertise in this thank you very much indeed for your time thanks for having me make sure to subscribe to our channel to get the latest news from Al jazer

Channel: Al Jazeera English

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Keywords: EU calls for probe into the mass graves in Khan Younis, European Union, Gaza, Gaza Bombardment, Gaza Hospitals, Gaza Humanitarian Crisis, Gaza Nasser hospital, Gaza Nasser medical complex, Gaza Under Attack, Gaza War, Gaza civil defence teams, Gaza genocide, Israel, Israel Gaza War, Israel war crimes in Gaza, Israel-Palestine conflict, Israeli army, Khan Younis mass graves, Nasser hospital mass grave, Palestine, United Nations, gaza mass graves, khan younis, war on gaza

Id: 8J9fDGwfd2s

Length: 7min 8sec (428 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024