466 days of Israeli genocide in Gaza ends in ceasefire – Accountability, humanitarian relief, and self-determination must follow
London, 15th January, 2025 – Prior to October 7th 2023, Gaza, the world’s largest open air prison, had already been under a seventeen-year long siege, and Palestinians in Gaza were subjugated by Israel’s brutal regime of apartheid, like Palestinians elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Israel, and beyond. Since then, the scale of suffering has changed history forever.
For the last 466 days, a genocide of a greater scale than even the Nakba has been carried out against Palestinians in Gaza. World-leading medical journal The Lancet released a report last week estimating that64,260 Palestinians had been killed by Israel in Gaza from October 2023 to June 2024, and 59.1% of those killed were children, women and the elderly.
This figure includes traumatic injuries only. We are unlikely to ever know the true figure, when accounting for epidemics and illnesses exacerbated by forced displacement, malnutrition and starvation brought on by the blockade of food, death by exposure to the elements from electricity being cut off and hastily made refugee tents. People will continue to die from these conditions even with a ceasefire. More still are now amputees, refugees, torture and sexual assault survivors, widows, widowers, orphans, and utterly traumatised, both individually and collectively. Whilst a ceasefire is a crucial step to ending the genocide, the work begins now to ensure humanitarian organisations are allowed unhindered access to Gaza in an attempt to begin to alleviate the suffering.
The ceasefire must also be a permanent one, this cannot become a glorified humanitarian pause, allowing Israel to regroup before launching yet another onslaught against the Palestinian people. Further, the perpetrators and architects of this genocide must be brought to justice, and accountability must take place to ensure that another more brutal onslaught of Palestinians in not carried out.
Arrest warrants have rightly been issued at the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, but more must be issued down the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) chain of command. Countries must play their part by committing to arrest these individuals when they set foot in their country and must also prosecute individual dual citizens who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity whilst serving in the IDF. This is also an important time for officials from other states who aided and abetted this genocide to be held accountable for their complicity; it is crucial to be clear that the past 466 days were not the result of only Israel’s actions.
Israel’s occupation of Palestine is illegal under international law, as clarified in the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion of July 2024. The solution is clear: Israel’s presence in all its forms in the oPt must end, from Gaza to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Simply put, there must be an end to these two fundamental, unique exemptions in the international order: Israel’s complete impunity from accountability for their war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the consensus that self-determination applies to all people, except for the Palestinians. Until these two issues are resolved, there may be a ceasefire, but there cannot be true peace and justice.
For years to come, Palestinians in Gaza, will suffer the overarching effects of the massive destruction and genocidal actions committed in Gaza. A ceasefire may have been agreed today, but scenes of genocidal violence will live in Palestinians’ collective memory for generations. Blood-stained flour, amputated limbs, grieving mothers, a decimated medical system, people collecting the remains of their deceased loved ones in bags, dozens of Palestinian men detained and stripped naked en masse in humiliation rituals, and much, much more shall haunt Palestinians forever. They will haunt our collective consciousness, too, until accountability is delivered and until Palestinians’ long-deprived rights are attained.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), found at www.icjpalestine.com, is an organisation dedicated to advocating for the legal rights of Palestinians on the global stage. Its primary focus is to use legal mechanisms to challenge injustices faced by Palestinians and hold accountable individuals, corporations, and governments that may be complicit in violations of international law.
For all press inquiries, please contact press@icjpalestine.com.