US sanctions three Palestinian organizations for calling for an investigation into the Gaza war

The United States has imposed sanctions on three Palestinian human rights organizations in connection with the Gaza war.

According to the US Treasury Department’s website, Washington on Thursday blacklisted three Palestinian institutions that had petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel over alleged acts of genocide in Gaza.

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The targeted entities are the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, both based in Gaza, as well as Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Man, headquartered in Ramallah in the West Bank. The Treasury stated that the designations were tied to their engagement with the ICC.

In November 2023, the three organizations formally requested the Court to open an investigation into Israeli airstrikes on densely populated civilian areas in Gaza, as well as the blockade of the enclave and the displacement of its residents.

A year later, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif (killed during the war), on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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The administration of former President Donald Trump had already imposed sanctions on ICC judges and its prosecutor over similar issues, including the arrest warrants concerning Israel and the Court’s earlier decision to open an investigation into alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan.

Established in 2002, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in the 125 member states.

However, several countries, including the United States, China, Russia, and Israel, do not recognize the authority of the ICC.

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The US sanctions on Palestinian organizations come just days after the world’s largest academic association of genocide scholars and experts declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza met the legal criteria for genocide.

Israel condemned the declaration, calling it disgraceful and “entirely based on Hamas’s campaign of lies.”

Israel’s full-scale war on the Gaza Strip began in October 2023, following an assault by Palestinian factions led by Hamas on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in 250 hostages being taken into Gaza.

Since then, Israel’s military offensive has killed 63,000 Palestinians, forced nearly the entire population of Gaza to flee their homes at least once, and triggered a hunger crisis described by a global food-monitoring body as famine.

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