Extract
[...] Yaniv Asor10 - planned and conducted the ground and air strikes11. The elements filed with the ICC (investigation opened in 2021 and expanded in 2023) indicate the death of approximately 32,000 civilians, linked in particular to the use of target selection algorithms ('Lavender') with minimal human control12?as well as the systematic destruction of essential infrastructure, which could characterise a war crime of disproportionate destruction (art b iv). Since 2014, the Israeli practice has shown the recurrence of firing on UNRWA schools or residential areas without direct military advantage. [...]
[...] The Martyrs of al Brigades-Aqsa, issued from Fatah but occasionally cooperating with Hamas, operate under a collegiate command present in Nablus and Jenin20. The acts attributed include the coordinated attack on October with intentional homicide of civilians, taking hostages and acts of torture, as well as the firing of thousands of unguided rockets towards Israeli urban centers, constituting indiscriminate attacks21, and finally the use of civilians as human shields, prohibited by article b xxiii22. The aforementioned leaderships had effective control: the communiqués of Al-Qassam rockets disseminated by the port-words "Abu Ubaida" confirm a centralized chain of command; videos also show units of the Martyrs' Brigades receiving direct orders from the "Revolutionary High Command"." III. [...]
[...] The knowledge of the crimes by superiors is therefore hardly in doubt. In the absence of effective penal jurisdictions in Gaza (the judicial system being controlled by the Islamist movement), the condition of complementarity is met: the ICC can prosecute the leaders of Hamas and the Martyrs' Brigades for non-sanction of crimes relevant to their authority. Conclusion The intersection of the Rome Statute rules and the available factual elements leads to retaining, prima facie, the direct criminal responsibility (article 25) of the main political and military decision-makers from both sides for war crimes and, potentially, crimes against humanity. [...]
[...] - Amnesty International, Deliberate Civilian Killings and Abductions by Palestinian Armed Groups, 2023. - Yuval Abraham, 'Lavender' +972 Magazine / Local Call, 2024. - UN, Human Rights Council, Special Reports on the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 2021-2025. [...]
[...] The effective pursuit will now depend on the Office of the Prosecutor's ability to gather material elements and overcome the obstacles related, on the one hand, to the lack of Israeli ratification of the Rome Statute, and, on the other hand, to the territorial and security control of Hamas over the Gaza Strip. Bibliography - Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, UN, 1998. - Forteau, M., 'The ICC and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'-palestinian R.G.D.I.P. 2024. - Dubin, V., 'International Criminal Liability of Private Persons' A.F.D.I. 2022. - Human Rights Watch, Israel/Palestine: Indiscriminate Rocket Attacks, 2014. [...]
