US should support ICC probe if it's sure Israel did not bomb Gaza hospital: Expert

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Targeting civilian objects, including hospitals, is “absolutely prohibited” under international humanitarian law, according to a legal expert, stressing that everyone should support an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into Tuesday night’s deadly attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of people were killed in the attack, which Palestinian officials say was an Israeli strike. Israel, however, has denied responsibility, instead blaming the armed group Palestinian Jihad.

In an interview with Anadolu, Ahmed Abofoul, legal researcher and advocacy officer at rights organization Al-Haq, pointed out that striking hospitals can amount to a war crime.

He said this was not the first time that Israel has denied responsibility for attacks on civilian targets, referring to the May 2022 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

“It is an Israeli usual tactic to attempt to create doubt by lying about their attacks and hoping that the media, and even politicians, will buy into those lies and disseminate them which would influence public opinion. Then these lies in a way become the truth,” said Abofoul.

Israel did the same thing in the killing of Abu Akleh, where, at first, they denied and accused Palestinians of doing it and then when they were exposed, they admitted that they did it, he said, adding that “but no one was held accountable.”

He also recalled the bombing of a school of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in central Gaza, adding that it happened although the agency provides the coordinates of its facilities to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on a daily basis.

“The UN clearly identified the IDF as the source of the attack and Israel didn’t care to deny it,” he said.

He said “several Israeli lies” were parroted around the world, especially by Western media and politicians including US President Joe Biden.

He said Biden was the one who first said that he saw pictures of beheaded children, comments that were later walked back by the White House.

“Biden again made another irresponsible claim,” he said, referring to the US leader’s remarks during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, where he said that the Gaza hospital attack “appears as though it was done by the other team,” not Israel.

“If Biden and the US administration are sure that Israel didn’t commit this crime, they should make it clear that they support the International Criminal Court’s investigation in the situation of Palestine, because this is the body that has the jurisdiction to investigate those crimes,” Abofoul noted.

Abofoul stressed the need for the global rules-based order to be applied to all sides.

“The selective application and the double standards of the West undermine this very rules-based order, and people on the ground, especially in the Global South, are seeing Western hypocrisy and double standards and losing faith,” he said.

“I hope Western leaders will go back to their senses, be principled and genuine about their belief in international law and human rights, and treat Palestinians as equal human beings.”

The current conflict began on Oct. 7 when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multipronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air.

It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip from Israeli airstrikes and raids is now near 3,500, with more than 12,000 injuries, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry, while the figure is more than 1,400 in Israel.​​​​​​​