Traumatic vision has emerged showing the aftermath of recent Israeli airstrikes on a makeshift tent city in Rafah, in the south of Gaza, that reportedly killed 45 people, and wounded 249 others.
Aid groups have said the Israeli Defence Force had designated the area a humanitarian safe zone before launching the attack, although Israel denies this.
International law expert Juliette McIntyre and ActionAid spokesperson Frankie Leach speak on The Briefing about how international laws work:
The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah, but in ambiguous terms, which the Israeli Government interpreted to mean its Rafah offensive can continue.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, the Israeli defence minister, and three Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
International law expert Juliette McIntyre said if Netanyahu is issued arrest warrants, his travel will be severely restricted, “But he will be safe to travel to, for example, the United States, which is also not a party to the Rome Statute.”
“Now it’s a question of enforcement and enforcement comes down to political willpower more than anything else. Courts don’t have armies, courts don’t have police forces.”
ActionAid Humanitarian Organisation spokesperson, Frankie Leach, said that nowhere is safe for refugees.
“Regardless of whether it was a grave incident, as they say, or an accident, 50 people have died and a huge area which was sheltering already very desperate and hard done by refugees have lost whatever little they had left,” she said.
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