Israel war crimes – Artifex.News

UN urges access for international investigators to Gaza after bodies found

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:48:00 +0000

Mourners gather for a mass burial of around 100 Palestinians, including 62 children, whose remains where recovered from rubble, in Gaza City. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

The United Nations called Tuesday (September 15, 2026) for international investigators to be granted to access to all of Gaza “to assist with evidence-gathering” as hundreds of bodies are pulled from the rubble.

“The ongoing recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, mostly of women and children, nearly three years after Israel heavily bombed their homes, highlights the possibility that war crimes have been committed,” the UN warned.

“The remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverised by Israeli attacks,” UN rights chief Volker Turk pointed out in a statement.

“I worry the remains recovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg,” he said, pointing to how “much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives”.

“Today, many areas in Gaza where the Israeli military is deployed continue to be levelled by bulldozers with no respect for the dead under the rubble,” he lamented.

The rights office said it was critical that evidence of violations, including at destroyed sites, calling for “international investigators to be allowed into all parts of Gaza to assist with evidence-gathering”.

It pointed out that the Palestinian Civil Defence had reported that more than 630 bodies and other human remains had been recovered from beneath destroyed buildings across Gaza since last November.

“It estimates the total number of missing under the rubble at over 8,000,” it said.

Mr. Turk insisted that “every feasible effort must be taken to document and identify these victims, preserve forensic information and biological samples, record their burial locations and inform their families”.

“The discovery of extensive remains under the rubble in Gaza City resurfaces (the) concerns of war crimes and other atrocity crimes,” he warned.

Israel’s full-scale war on Gaza — which began after a Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023 — reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble.

The relentless Israeli bombardment and ground offensive have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including more than 1,350 since a ceasefire was agreed last October, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is under Hamas authority.

Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Published – September 15, 2026 03:17 pm IST

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Gaza civil defence says Israeli attacks kill six

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:11:00 +0000

Palestinians gather around a car hit in an Israeli military strike that, according to health authorities, killed at least one person in Gaza City, Thursday, July 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Gaza’s civil defence agency and health officials said Israeli attacks killed six people across the Palestinian territory on Thursday (July 9, 2026).

A ceasefire is in place in the Israel-Hamas war, but it has not ended the violence in Gaza and progress towards a final deal to end the war has stalled.

Gaza’s civil defence said six people were killed in Israeli drone strikes and gunfire.

Two people were killed and several others injured when an Israeli drone struck central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, said the agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas.

Four other people were killed in other attacks, it said.

Gaza hospitals confirmed receiving the bodies of six individuals killed in the attacks.

A security source in Gaza said an Israeli drone strike targeted the vehicle of Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas.

Qassem was not in the vehicle but the strike killed his bodyguard, the source said.

The bodyguard was among the six fatalities reported by the civil defence agency.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond when asked about the attacks.

At least 1,092 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October last year, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period, as well as one civilian contractor.

Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence there.

Published – July 10, 2026 05:41 am IST

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Has the U.K. changed its stance on ICC arrest warrants? | Explained

admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 03:00:00 +0000

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The story so far: On July 26, Britain abandoned its intent to challenge the prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The latest move signals a second policy shift by the Labour government, from the previous Conservative government, after it restored funding for the UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

What is the dispute about?

The chief prosecutor of the Hague Court, Karim Khan, on May 20, applied to the pre-trial chamber to serve arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif (since killed) and Yahya Sinwar, as well as Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant. The move was consequent to the brutal fallout from Hamas’s Operation al-Aqsa flood on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s Operation Iron Swords in retaliation. The prosecutor asserted that there were reasonable grounds to believe that all of them bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. One pointed reference in Mr. Khan’s application was to Tel Aviv’s alleged intentional starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

What was the U.K.’s previous stance?

The Conservative government opposed the ICC’s application for arrest warrants on Israeli leaders. The former prime minister Rishi Sunak called the move “deeply unhelpful.” U.K. lawyers maintained that the question of the Court’s jurisdiction over Israeli citizens had to be ascertained before arrest warrants could be served to Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant. This was necessary, they argued, given that the state of Palestine was not allowed to exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli citizens under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which has been superseded by the 1998 Rome Statute.

What is the ICC jurisdiction issue?

In 2019, then chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda deemed it fit to seek further confirmation regarding the ICC’s jurisdiction in Palestine since it was an occupied territory rather than a sovereign state. On February 5, 2021, the Hague Court ruled that it could exercise criminal jurisdiction in occupied Palestinian territories, and that its reach extended to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Court also made it categorical that its jurisdiction covered crimes committed by nationals of states-parties and by nationals of non-states-parties on the territory of a country. Thus, Israel’s refusal to ratify the Rome Statute is not directly relevant since the ICC prosecutes individuals and not countries, including citizens from states that are not signatories to the treaty.

Weeks after the February 2021 ruling, the ICC launched investigations into alleged war crimes in Palestinian territory, including the 2014 Gaza war and the illegal construction of settlements in the occupied territory.

What are the implications for Israel from U.K.’s current stance?

In the wake of the removal of Britain’s objections to the prosecutor’s actions, it may be a matter of time before the ICC issues arrest warrants against the five leaders. In that event, Prime Minister Netanyahu would earn the dubious distinction of becoming the first head of government backed by western countries to be indicted by the ICC. Such a scenario would expose Israel’s allies, especially the U.S., to immense domestic opposition against the supply of arms to that country. Tel Aviv already faces charges of genocide in the International Court of Justice and would face further isolation around the world. A potential indictment would severely restrict Mr. Netanyahu’s travels, with the imminent risk of being detained by any of the 124 signatory states to the ICC. Conversely, the Hague Court, already under attack for its narrow focus on investigating impunities among African countries, faces the risk of undermining its relevance should the judges decide not to proceed against Israel.

The writer is Director, Strategic Initiatives, AgnoShin Technologies.

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UN Says Israeli Strikes On Gaza Refugee Camp Could Be War Crimes

admin — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 19:32:16 +0000

The UN Human Rights on Wednesday slammed Israel over attack on Gaza refugee camp.

United Nations:

Deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip’s largest refugee camp “could amount to war crimes”, the UN Human Rights Office said on Wednesday.

Israeli strikes have targeted the Jabalia refugee camp twice in two days, killing and wounding dozens, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.

Israel said Tuesday’s raid was a successful hit on top Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari.

“Given the high number of civilian casualties & the scale of destruction following Israeli air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes,” the office wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Israel has relentlessly pounded Gaza in retribution for the worst attack in the country’s history.

Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign has killed 8,796 people, mainly women and children, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.

AFPTV images from Wednesday’s strike on the camp showed extensive damage and rescuers clawing through rubble to extract blood-stained casualties.

The large death toll from the strikes has drawn a chorus of international condemnation, with Bolivia severing diplomatic ties with Israel in protest.

Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel “to condemn the Israeli war that is killing innocent people in Gaza”.

UN chief Antonio Guterres is “appalled over the escalating violence in Gaza, including the killing of Palestinians, including women and children in Israeli air strikes in residential areas of the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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