'Germany complicit in Israel's crimes in Gaza': Israeli expert

By Melike Pala

Germany is "complicit" in crimes committed in Gaza because it supplied weapons to Israel, an Israeli international law expert said.

"What we've seen in the past two months … is that aid has not been coming in," Prof. Neve Gordon told Anadolu, adding that civilians there are eating animal food and grass to survive.

“We've received evidence that 31 people, including 27 children, have died of famine. The court (International Court of Justice) has seen all of this, the court understands that Israel has not complied with its initial ruling, and therefore issued a new ruling, demanding Israel immediately open the borders and allow enough aid to enter Gaza," he added.

Emphasizing that the ICJ can issue a decision for a "cease-fire", he said: "The real question is, is there a will to make this decision? Does the court want to make this decision?"

Noting that the absence of "immediate cease-fire" as one of the clauses in the initial interim measures surprised many people, Gordon underlined: "We were surprised and we were also upset that we have seen that since the initial ruling, Israel's continued killing civilians, women and children and continued destroying houses, hospitals, mosques and schools and continued to block aid."

- 'Starvation part of broader genocidal project'

Stating that the ongoing "genocide" case at ICJ could last for years, the Israeli legal expert expressed uncertainty about the course of the case and the final decision.

"I think it is the responsibility of the court to stop this human-made tragedy," said Gordon, criticizing ICJ for not taking adequate steps to stop international law violations.

Emphasizing that preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and condemning civilians there to hunger is a "war crime" and could constitute a "crime against humanity," Gordon noted that “the crime of starvation is often part of a broader genocidal project."

He added: "It has to be understood within the context of the destruction of hospitals, the destructions of schools, and the killing of over 32,000 people, mostly children.”

- 'Germany complicit in crimes'

Referring to a case brought on March 1 by Nicaragua against Germany at ICJ, accusing Berlin of "facilitating" genocide in Gaza, Gordon said he believed that "Germany is violating international law."

He recalled that Germany is a signatory to the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits trading weapons if the parties know in advance that the arms would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

"It has yet to be determined whether Israel is carrying out genocide because the ICJ has not ruled on the topic. But I think anyone with the eyes in their head can see that Israel is committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza," added Gordon.

He highlighted that by continuing arms trade with Israel and sending weapons to Israel, Germany has become "complicit" in these crimes."

- 'Defunding UNRWA'

Gordon also mentioned that Germany temporarily stopping funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) also meant "supporting genocide."

He noted: "Defunding UNRWA is, in fact, restricting aid to the Gaza Strip - rendering Germany also complicit in that."

Gordon indicated that ICJ could issue a decision for Germany to halt arms shipments to Israel and pointed out the existence of precedent decisions on this issue.

Assessing the criticism against International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan for not taking swift and concrete actions against Israel, Gordon said: "Gathering evidence sometimes takes time. But, why it has taken so long.”

"But in my opinion, that's not the only reason; there are also political reasons behind it."

"I think, Israel's image in the international arena is changing. I think there's widespread recognition that Israel is carrying out egregious crimes against the Palestinian people. And I think that will change the direction of the ICC in years to come," he added.

Flouting the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 33,091 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 75,750 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel from Istanbul