Global Rights Compliance (‘GRC’) welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and urges all parties to respect the conditions set therein.
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is a vital first step towards alleviating the current humanitarian catastrophe afflicting civilians in Gaza. However, it must be followed by immediate and effective measures by both parties to the conflict to restore access to basic necessities for the civilian population and, more broadly, to ensure respect of international law, including through the crucial support of the international community.
Since the onset of the latest escalation of hostilities in Gaza, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel (‘UN Commission of Inquiry’) has been collecting and preserving evidence of war crimes by both Hamas and Israeli defence forces. On 21 November 2024, the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’) issued arrest warrants for Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, citing reasonable grounds to believe they are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas’ armed wing and other Palestinian armed groups carried out an attack on Israel, firing barrages of rockets and, after crossing the Gaza border fence, attacking military bases as well as towns, villages, and a music festival. As a result, more than 1,200 Israeli and foreign nationals were killed (including 40 children) and around 5,400 injured over the course of three days; the attacks also resulted into property damage and destruction. Reports of torture, mistreatment, and sexual violence have also emerged from this initial attack. Rocket attacks on Israeli cities continued in the following months. Whilst most of these rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, these attacks resulted in civilian casualties and property damage across Israel. Over 250 people were abducted to Gaza (including members of Israeli security forces), with civilians being held hostage. The majority of these hostages have been subjected to mistreatment, with some subjected to physical violence including sexual and gender-based violence. As of 16 January 2025, 91 hostages are still unaccounted for, with only 57 believed to be alive.
The UN Commission of Inquiry determined that these acts committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups consisted of, among others, the war crimes of intentionally directing attacks against civilians, murder, cruel treatment and torture, sexual violence, and taking hostages.
Using Hamas’ initial conduct as an impermissible excuse, for 15 months, Israel steadily subjected the Gaza strip to a military campaign characterised by systematic violations of international humanitarian law. Since 9 October 2023, when former Israeli Defence Minister Gallant announced the strengthening of Israel’s blockade on Gaza into a complete siege, denying Palestinian civilians vital resources required for them to survive, the conflict has been characterised by a campaign of sustained aerial and ground bombardment evidencing blatant disregard for basic principles of international humanitarian law and civilian life and described by the UN as inflicting an “unprecedented and unparalleled” civilian death toll. Over 46,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed since 7 October 2023, almost a quarter are children, and these terrible statistics undoubtedly represent a mere fraction of the real number of casualties. Nearly 2 million people, representing almost the entirety of Gaza’s population, have been repeatedly displaced, and over 90 percent of residential buildings have been destroyed, leaving only makeshift shelter for the besieged and defenceless population. Not to mention the large-scale destruction of critical infrastructure across the Gaza Strip, including water, food, health, and energy, amongst others, affecting every sector of the economy and thousands of families seeking to survive. The conduct of Israel’s military operations has been foreshadowed by the use of dehumanising language and express disregard for the rules of international humanitarian law from senior Israeli military and government officials, describing a fight against “human animals” and “the children of darkness”, and the goal of “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth”.
The UN Commission of Inquiry determined that the conduct of Israeli security forces throughout the conflict has featured the repeated commission of the war crimes of directing attacks against civilians, forcible transfer, sexual violence, using starvation as a method of warfare, collective punishment, and torture. Moreover, the UN Commission of Inquiry also assessed that Israeli forces committed the crimes against humanity of extermination and persecution based on gender, as well as torture. Pre-trial Chamber I of the ICC found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against civilians as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. The methods, pattern, and extent of Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian people in Gaza have been so destructive that organisations such as Amnesty International have qualified them as genocide.
GRC calls on the international community to acknowledge the vast scale of atrocities committed during the Israel–Hamas war and do everything in its power to ensure they do not go unpunished. As underscored by the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor and other independent investigatory mechanisms, accountability is not optional—it is a legal and moral obligation. All these violations require urgent and independent investigation and prosecution when suspects are identified, whatever position they occupy in Israel or Hamas’ military and political command structure.
The ceasefire must not be an excuse for complacency or more impunity for perpetrators of any kind or any side of the conflict. It must serve as a turning point towards justice, restoration, and a renewed commitment to upholding the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people to security and to self-determination, including their right to an independent and sovereign state.