Status: 30.10.2023, 03:41 a.m.
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The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, sends a warning. © Yui Mok/PA Wire/dpa
In the Gaza war, the situation continues to deteriorate, especially for the civilian population. Now the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is sending a warning.
Cairo - The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has warned Israel and the Islamist Hamas against violations of international law in the Gaza war.
"I want to make it clear to Israel that it must make discernible efforts without further delay to ensure that the civilian population receives basic foodstuffs, medicine, anesthetics," Chief Prosecutor Khan told journalists in Cairo, referring to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. And to Hamas, which rules Gaza, and all those "who are in control there": the aid must reach the civilian population "and not be abused or diverted from them," the chief prosecutor warned.
Khan indicated that the ICC was already investigating possible crimes on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. The "obstruction of aid deliveries" under the Geneva Conventions could constitute a crime that falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, Khan warned. He had visited the Rafah crossing in Egypt at the weekend.
Additional help urgently needed
This is seen as the only way to bring much-needed aid to the coastal strip sealed off by Israel. In the meantime, dozens of trucks with aid supplies have arrived in the blockaded Gaza Strip. But according to aid organizations, this is far from enough to provide for the more than 2.2 million people. Their situation is becoming more and more terrible from day to day.
"The civilian population must be provided with basic foodstuffs, water and urgently needed medical assistance," Khan said. Referring to the hostages taken by Hamas to the Gaza Strip, the chief prosecutor said hostage-taking was "a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions." Terrorists from Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, carried out a massacre in Israel on October 7. Since then, Israel has suffered more than 1400,230 deaths. More than 8000 people were abducted. The death toll in the Gaza Strip continued to rise after Israel's fierce retaliation. According to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than <>,<> Palestinians have been killed since the war began. Dpa