The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has joined 14 other non-governmental organizations in urgently calling for an end to private militarized humanitarian aid operations in Gaza and a restoration of the critical work of multilateral aid agencies.
In the letter, the organization warns all individuals and entities involved in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) inhumane and deadly operations of potential complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured since the GHF’s distribution operations have begun in coordination with Israeli forces.
The GHF’s model of militarized and privatized aid delivery “(…) not only violates core humanitarian principles—it exposes all those who enable or profit from it to real risk of prosecution for complicity in war crimes, including the forcible transfer of civilians and the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Legal accountability for these acts is clear and inescapable under international law”, said Philip Grant, Executive Director of TRIAL International.
The signatories call for a return to internationally recognized humanitarian aid distribution channels and call on the international community, civil society, and humanitarian professionals to press the immediate opening of Gaza and a comprehensive ceasefire.
Read the full joint statement here
List of signatories :
Al Haq Al Mezan
Center for Human Rights
Australian Centre for International Justice
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Justice and Accountability
Centre for Applied Legal Studies
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
Global Legal Action Network
Guernica 37 Chambers
International Commission of Jurists International
Federation for Human Rights
Medico International
TRIAL International
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice
