'War crime': Israeli academics blast so-called humanitarian city in Rafah
A group of Israeli scholars and lecturers specializing in international law and the laws of armed conflict have expressed their unequivocal opposition and warned against the explicit illegality of the Tel Aviv regime’s plans to set up what it calls a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza.
Sixteen legal professors and lecturers, in a letter dated July 10, addressed Israeli minister for military affairs Israel Katz and chief of staff of the Israeli army Major General Eyal Zamir, warning that the proposed plan to build the camp on the ruins of Rafah, which have been largely devastated by Israel, constitutes a clear breach of legal principles.
“If implemented, the plan would constitute a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and under certain conditions, could amount to the crime of genocide,” the letter stated.
The letter highlighted that the scheme represents a war crime involving forcible transfer and deportation. It asserted that because of the systematic and extensive nature of the plan, it qualifies as a crime against humanity in the context of deportation or forcible transfer.
Furthermore, the letter indicates that the plan constitutes a crime against humanity through the severe deprivation of liberty, contravening essential principles of international law, owing to the restriction on exiting the area.
It also constitutes the crime against humanity of persecution, resulting from the grave deprivation of fundamental rights based on collective identity, in conjunction with the declared intent to encourage emigration.
The letter indicated that any instruction to prepare for or promote the creation of a “humanitarian city” in Gaza represents a clearly unlawful command that should not be obeyed.
The signatories ended by calling on all relevant authorities to publicly reject this plan, disavow it, and ensure that it is not put into action.
According to the Israeli regime, the “humanitarian city” will initially house 600,000 displaced Palestinians currently living in tents in the overcrowded area of al-Mawasi along Gaza’s southern coast.
But eventually, the coastal region’s entire population of more than two million people is to be moved there.
According to official figures from the Health Ministry of Gaza, at least 58,386 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 139,077 injured since October 7, 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged coastal territory.
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