Palestinian human rights lawyer Raji SouraniHe survived the bombing, which destroyed his home in Gaza, which was key to an International Criminal Court investigation into Israel’s alleged war crimes in Palestine since 2014.
“By a miracle, I survived with my family, but my house was destroyed when Israeli F16s bombed Gaza’s Tal Al Hawa neighborhood,” Sourani, 70, said in a WhatsApp message with access to this information. daily. “I lived the longest two hours with my beloved wife and son. and the terrible things in my life.
The first news came that a bomb was thrown at Sourani’s house United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for the Occupied Palestinian Territories last Saturday on the X network.
Raji Sourani heads the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and is responsible for representing and collecting evidence from hundreds of Gazans who have been subjected to Israeli attacks over the past decade. His study shows that the International Criminal Court will be heard in 2021. Authority to investigate incidents in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem This may have been carried out by both the Israeli army and politicians and Palestinian militias since 2014. Sourani was awarded the prestigious American award. Robert F. Kennedy of Civil Rights and took French National Order of Merit. Israel had previously arrested him and accused him of being pro-Hamas.
“We take shelter in the corridor.”
“We were lucky because my son told Amal: [su mujer] what do i care about We took shelter in the corridor of our house. I obeyed him. Every time we hear an explosion and destruction, the house shakes and fills with smoke,” says Sourani. “I have three feelings: first, we were the target; Secondly, I think about how the thousands of civilians I represent as their lawyers will feel along with their families (…); Third, was I clearly wrong to insist that I leave my home and become part of a new Nakba? [expulsión de palestinos de 1946]When the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) told us to leave the north, did my wife and children decide to stay with me and not leave?
After these two endless hours, the bombing ended and ambulances began to arrive, the lawyer says. “For this reason I saw my house almost completely destroyed“Glass, wood, doors, windows, furniture in our living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, my library, my garden: all memories destroyed.”
Criticizing US President Joe Biden and the West for “supporting Israel in these crimes against civilians,” Sourani says, “This happens all the time, every day in Gaza.” Attack hard. Karim KhanInternational Criminal Court Prosecutor who failed to move forward with his predecessor’s case for alleged war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Khan says one day he will have to pay the price for this:Politicize and elect the Rome Statute [acuerdo para el establecimiento de la Corte Penal Internacional]Because he filed a lawsuit against Vladimir Putin, but left aside the Palestine case, for which the Court has declared him competent since 2014.
The worsening of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict after the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 and Israel’s response to the bombing of Gaza once again brought to the table the role of universal justice in war crimes committed in Israel. civilian population. The International Criminal Court reminded that although Israel is not a member state, it has jurisdiction over potential war crimes committed by both Hamas in Israel and Israel in the Gaza Strip, according to the court’s chief prosecutor, British Karim Khan. Interviews with Reuters and BBC.
“We have jurisdiction over all crimes covered by the Rome Statute. genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity“We have jurisdiction over any crime committed by Palestinians in Israel,” Khan told the British BBC. Three experts consulted by this newspaper see the scope of the case as complex in its progression.
The consequences of violent conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been the subject of the International Criminal Court for two years. It has been ruled that war crimes committed in Israel and Palestine since 2014 can be investigated.
That year, Israel bombarded the fenced Strip, leaving 66 Israeli soldiers dead as well as more than 2,200 dead, mostly civilians and half a million displaced. Former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in 2019: “I believe that war crimes have been committed or are being committed in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.”