Israel’s ultimate aim is ‘elimination’ of Palestinians, Malaysia rep tells ICJ
A representative of Malaysia has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel’s intention is the ultimate “displacement and elimination” of Palestinians.
“What are the obligations of an occupying power and of a member of the United Nations that continues without regard for international law or human decency to obstruct, undermine and dismantle the very systems built to preserve human life and dignity in the occupied Palestinian territory?” Malaysian envoy Azalina Othman Said asked the court during public hearings on Israel’s obligations in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“In last few weeks, we have witnessed not only a renewed war against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but also statements by senior Israeli officials that leave no doubt [that] Israel’s intention is to bring about the ultimate denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination to their eventual displacement and elimination,” she said.
Othman Said pointed out how Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz recently issued threats against Gaza’s civilian population, stressing that “this demonstrates Israel’s intention in no uncertain terms”.
“Threatening the civilian population of Gaza with destruction unless they remove Hamas and return the hostages, [this is] an objective that even Israel with all its military might has not even come close to achieving over a year-and-a-half of merciless killing and maiming,” she said.
Israel intentionally making Gaza ‘uninhabitable’, Egypt tells ICJ
Egypt has told the International Court of Justice that Israel remains bound by its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law as long as its occupation of Palestinian territory continues.
As the ICJ heard arguments from the UN and others about Israel’s obligations as an occupying power, Egypt’s assistant foreign minister, Hatem Kamaleldin Abdelkader, accused Israel of imposing a “brutal siege” on civilians, calling it “the most recent chapter in Israel’s systematic weaponisation of humanitarian assistance”.
“There is no doubt that these practices are part of a widespread, systematic and comprehensive state policy to depopulate the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory] and effect its de-facto annexation,” he said.
Abdelkader added that Israel has forcibly transferred Palestinians to areas no more secure than those they had fled and is “intentionally creating conditions intended to make Gaza uninhabitable”.
Jasmine Moussa, a legal adviser to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said Israel’s military campaign was aimed at achieving “a far more insidious end” – the removal of Palestinians from their land and their extermination “under the fog of war”.
