‘Genocide has been committed, and there must be accountability’
We have some more lines from our interview with the head of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, who said a ceasefire in Gaza must not mean that what has happened over the past 15 months is forgotten.
“In fact, if you have any sense of the future, you need a reckoning for the past. Amnesty’s primary message is that genocide has been committed, and accountability must be delivered for it,” the secretary-general of the international organisation told Al Jazeera.
“Regarding the few states that refuse to acknowledge the evidence, it is clearly a position that is political; it is not a legal or empirical position.”
Callamard said Amnesty is also following the events in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military has for the past two weeks been conducting deadly raids.
“What we do know and what we have investigated in the past, demonstrate a multiplication of violations, including of the responsibility of Israel as the occupier. Let’s recall that Israel is unlawfully occupying the West Bank, and it has a responsibility under international law as a military occupier and clearly, every one of those responsibilities are being violated right now,” she said.
“Are we looking at war crimes? It will demand a number of analyses that we have not conducted yet. But there is absolutely no doubt that human rights violations are being committed, including the unlawful destruction of Palestinian property, and unlawful detention, and forced displacement. Will that amount to committing genocide? It will take more time to reach that conclusion.”
Israeli army keeps blowing up infrastructure in south Lebanon
The Israeli military has released footage of blowing up more buildings in southern Lebanon, saying the aim was to “clear the area and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure”.
It claimed it destroyed weapons depots containing mortars, missiles, rockets, explosive devices, guns and other military equipment.
This comes as the Israeli military continues to occupy large parts of southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire agreement that required its withdrawal last week.
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