Alwaght- While people of Gaza are living in a catastrophic situation as the Israeli crimes enter their 100th day and the international organizations talk about alarming humanitarian conditions and the need to quickly deliver aids to the war-stricken civilians, the Israeli regime is pointing the finger of blame to Egypt as the main obstacle to entry of food and medicine to Gaza.
The case filed recently with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for its war crimes in Gaza began its proceeding on Friday. The case contains a complaint regarding heinous Israeli crimes, including prevention of entry of humanitarian aids like food and medicine to Gaza for delivery to over 2 million Gazans, that are categorized as war crimes and genocide.
Now, the hardline government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is worried about issuing an initial ruling against this regime, and to marginalize the ICJ sessions, it resorts to charges against others.
In the ICJ session held on Friday, a member of the legal team of the Israeli regime claimed during his petition that Egypt is responsible for the Rafah Border Crossing and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. This Israeli lawyer claimed that Tel Aviv did not prevent aid from entering and that Egypt could have helped Gaza from the first day of the war.
Such claims triggered strong reactions from Egyptian officials who called them unfounded slander. Diaa Rashwan, the Egyptian intelligence chief, responded to the Israeli claims, saying that all Israeli officials including the PM and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tens of times since the beginning of war stressed that they do not allow aids, especially fuel, to enter Gaza.
Rashwan maintained that when Tel Aviv found itself convicted before the International Court of Justice, which has ample documents of its crimes, it resorted to anti-Egyptian charges in an attempt to escape its possible conviction by the court. He went on that it is obvious that Egypt only has sovereignty over the Egyptian side of the crossing, while the other side in Gaza is controlled by Israel, which is where the aid actually goes in.
This Egyptian official added that what confirms the Israeli control over the entry of aids to Gaza and intentional blocking of them is the American President Joe Biden’s demand from Tel Aviv to open the crossing to facilitate aids supplies to the besieged enclave.
“If the Israeli authorities really want food, medical supplies and fuel to enter Gaza, they have six crossings through their territory with the Gaza Strip and should immediately open them not for trade but for humanitarian aid,” he held.
Palestinian authorities, too, refuted the Israeli claims. According to Sputnik news agency, Wasef Abu Youssef, a member of Central Committee of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), asserted that Tel Aviv is to blame for blockade against the Palestinians and blocking medicine, food, and fuel to them.
“The Netanyahu government is responsible for all the humanitarian disasters that the Palestinian people are being subjected to, including the policy of killing, destruction, starvation and genocide in Gaza, the West Bank and Al-Quds (Jerusalem), but it is trying to escape its responsibility at the International Court of Justice tribunal,” he was quoted as saying.
No excuse left to Egypt
The Israelis have thrown the ball in the Egyptian court to escape conviction and pretend that Cairo is mainly to blame for humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Although the ICJ rulings are final and not open to appeal, there is no mechanism for their enforcement. Still, a conviction of the Israeli regime would foist legal consequence to Tel Aviv, deepen its isolation, and further damage its world image.
The Israeli claim prompted a question: Will Egypt open the crossing to clear itself of charges and prove Israeli claims false?
Since the start of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, there have been questions about Egypt’s indecision to reopen the Rafah crossing and provide aid to the war-hit Palestinian enclave, and with intensification of bombing, the mystery went more complicated, and many have pointed the finger of blame at Egypt for participating in siege, until Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry denied the Israeli claims, telling CNN that the crossing is always open but Israel does not allow aids in.
After Israeli charges were made against Egypt by Israeli legal team, many prominent Arab figures on social media published calls for Cairo to send aids to Gaza forcefully to demonstrate that the Israeli occupation is to blame should the latter block them.
Meanwhile, Alaa Khayam, a former member of Egypt’s Constitution Party, told The New Arab news that given its historical role and position in the Arab world, Egypt should take a proper decision to help Gaza and the Palestinian cause.
“We all know that the occupying government is lying, but this opportunity is provided for Egypt to open the crossing, send humanitarian and medical aid, treat the wounded and impose its own independent decision on the borders, without the occupying government reacting,” Khayam said.
Palestinian author Talal Okal told The New Arab that it is clear that Israel has lost its balance and is “looking for a plank to nail its crimes on it. These slanders must be openly responded to.”
Given the global backlash and possible conviction of the Israeli regime, the Tel Aviv leaders try to alleviate the ICJ pressures by unblocking aids from Rafah crossing.
With Israelis making such claims during ICJ trial, any excuse is now removed from the shoulders of the Egyptians, and they, who until now considered the Israelis to be a great obstacle in the way of sending humanitarian aid, can now open the crossing to trucks waiting behind the gates. In this case, if the Israelis continue to disrupt the aid delivery, the global outrage against them will increase, and the issuing of a temporary ruling on the genocide in Gaza will be likely. This is something Israeli media outlets have also expressed concern about, as Gaza now is in the worst humanitarian conditions and the published images and videos evoke apocalyptic scenes in the mind, and according to a UN report, nearly 2 million people have been displaced.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, Martin Griffiths, on Friday described a horrific scene his colleges witnessed in Gaza and called for the UN Security Council to act urgently for a ceasefire.
“Colleagues who have managed to make it to the North in recent days describe scenes of utter horror: Corpses left lying in the road. People with evident signs of starvation stopping trucks in search of anything they can get to survive,” he said.
Over 23,000 killed, 2.3 million displaced, and a majority of civil buildings destroyed, with food, water, and medicine shortage are the outcomes of over 100 days of Israeli war on Gaza people amid severe choking of aids delivery to the north. This is what Griffiths also confirmed, saying that his team’s efforts to send humanitarian aids to northern Gaza have run into denials and delays and even security of the relief workers is jeopardized by Israeli war.
“The health system is in a state of collapse. Women are unable to give birth safely. Children cannot get vaccinated. The sick and injured cannot get treatment. Infectious diseases are on the rise. And people have been seeking shelter and refuge in hospital yards,” he reported to the UNSC.
A majority of the rights and aid agencies, and organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Doctors without Borders, UNRWA, and World Health Organization, have already confirmed the criminal nature of the Israeli military actions against the Palestinian civilians and even staffers of international organizations. These crimes in Gaza are documented, which confirms that the Israelis intentionally cause suffering and serious harm to the physical or mental health of the civilians.
The genocide case in ICJ against Tel Aviv provides a good opportunity to convict Tel Aviv in international organizations. Given the humanitarian and political effects of Gaza developments and the complicated legal challenges arising from South Africa’s criminal case against the Israeli regime, this case will very likely captivate the international attention, and with the initial ICJ ruling against Tel Aviv, the world would see the Israeli bloody face even clearer.
