For decades, Israel defied international law with impunity. That era is ending.
In a historic advisory opinion issued this week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza has breached its obligations under the Geneva Conventions and the UN Charter, amounting to the use of starvation as a method of warfare.
The judges found that Israel failed to justify its near-total blockade on food, fuel, and medicine, concluding that “security concerns cannot be invoked to impose collective deprivation.”
UNRWA, the UN’s principal relief agency for Palestinians, had been vilified by Israel as infiltrated by Hamas. The ICJ found those claims unsubstantiated. Instead, it described UNRWA as “the backbone of humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” ordering Israel to restore full cooperation and permit unhindered aid access.
The opinion — adopted by 10 votes to 1 — confirmed that Israel violated UN immunities, bombed protected facilities, and ignored its duties as an occupying power. In diplomatic terms, it is a condemnation of historic proportions — one that shreds decades of Israeli denials and Western political cover.
The Lone Dissent: Julia Sebutinde’s Theological Crusade
The single dissenting vote came from Judge Julia Sebutinde, a Ugandan jurist and the ICJ’s vice-president, whose partiality has become a scandal in its own right. Sebutinde has dissented in every major Gaza-related case since 2024, always siding with Israel.
Her reasoning was thrown into crisis in August 2025 when she addressed Kampala’s evangelical Watoto Church, declaring that “the Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel” and describing the war as part of “the end times.” Subsequent investigations revealed extensive plagiarism in her prior dissents, lifting language from pro-Israel advocacy materials and even Christian Zionist sermons.
For many observers, Sebutinde’s conduct has tainted the court’s credibility. Legal analysts warn that her public declaration of divine allegiance to Israel violates the ICJ’s oath of impartiality. As one critic wrote, “The Hague itself is now on trial — undone by a judge who mistakes prophecy for jurisprudence.”
The ICC Steps In: Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
Just months before the ICJ ruling, the International Criminal Court (ICC) moved decisively.
On 21 November 2024, it issued international arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, charging them with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a weapon, intentional targeting of civilians, and extermination.
Under Article 58 of the Rome Statute, any ICC member state is legally obliged to arrest the two men if they enter its territory.
Since the warrants were made public, Netanyahu has altered his official travel routes, avoiding the airspace of European ICC member states. Aviation trackers have noted that his plane now detours around Spain, France, Belgium, and Portugal to prevent potential interception or forced landing.
One senior European diplomat described it bluntly:
“For the first time, an Israeli leader flies not as a statesman but as a fugitive from justice.”
Paper Beats Tanks: The Hind Rajab Foundation’s Forensic Counter-Offensive
While the ICJ and ICC deliver the framework for accountability, one Brussels-based civilian organisation — the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) — has turned documentation itself into a weapon.
Named after six-year-old Hind Rajab, whose final recorded phone call from beneath her family’s bodies echoed worldwide, the Foundation has filed a 120-page dossier with the ICC naming 24 Israeli soldiers and commanders responsible for the killings of Hind, six relatives, and two Palestinian Red Crescent medics on 29 January 2024.
The evidence includes:
- Satellite imagery showing IDF tank positions;
- Intercepted radio transmissions ordering fire on civilian vehicles;
- Geolocated photographs;
- Ballistic analyses of shell impacts; and
- Sworn witness statements allegedly tracing command responsibility through Israel’s 401st Armoured Brigade, commanded by Colonel Benny Aaron, down through Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Ella of the 52nd Battalion, Major Sean (Shaun) Glass of the so-called “Vampire Empire” Company, and Sergeant Ite Shurikov, one of the tank gunners who allegedly executed the order.
At the centre of the file are these four men — Aaron, Ella, Glass, and Shurikov — now publicly named in an international legal complaint over the death of a child whose final words have come to define Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Hind survived the initial shelling and called rescuers using her mother’s phone. The ambulance dispatched to reach her — clearly marked and stationary — was then destroyed, killing Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, two Palestinian Red Crescent medics.
Forensic analysis later confirmed that the ambulance was hit deliberately and that no combat activity occurred nearby — 335 tank rounds were fired into the zone, none returned.
An Al-Azhar Arabic investigation, part of its Tip of the Iceberg series, identified Major Sean Glass and Sergeant Ite Shurikov as members of the unit involved. Intercepted Israeli radio traffic captured a field commander ordering fire on both the civilian car and the rescue ambulance.
According to open-source records, Major Sean Glass is also a U.S. citizen and former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, whose official biography on the U.S. leadership consultancy Echelon Front confirms 13 years of service and three combat deployments. His inclusion in the Hind Rajab Foundation’s dossier marks the first time an identified dual-national officer — with prior service in a Western military — has been named in a potential ICC prosecution for war crimes in Gaza.
The HRF submission argues that the evidence meets the ICC’s Article 8(2)(b) prohibitions on deliberate attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers.
The Foundation’s co-founder is Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Lebanese political activist and writer, and it is a registered non-profit organisation based in Brussels, Belgium. Its legal work is led by Natasha Brack, the Foundation’s legal director.
Unlike campaign groups, the HRF operates as a legal entity, collecting, verifying, and filing admissible evidence directly with international and national courts.
In October 2024, the HRF filed its first major ICC communication naming around 1,000 Israeli soldiers and submitting 8,000 pieces of evidence, including videos, intercepts, and sworn witness statements.
The 2025 Hind Rajab dossier is narrower but more precise, reconstructing the entire chain of events through open-source data — from tank coordinates to radio logs and the audio of Hind’s final call.
Parallel cases are also active under universal jurisdiction:
- In the Netherlands, against Israeli officer Yehuda Vash;
- In Argentina, against Sergeant Ite Shurikov, who holds dual citizenship; and
- Further filings pending in Brazil, Portugal, and Belgium.
This multi-jurisdiction strategy ensures that even if Israel shields its soldiers domestically, they face arrest abroad.
Israel’s attempt to suppress the HRF has only magnified its reach. The National Cyber Directorate and Ministry of Diaspora Affairs tried — and failed — to have the foundation’s website suspended by its Belgian host on claims of “terrorism support.” The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee later branded the HRF “a threat to Israel’s security interests.”
In response, the IDF Censorship Division introduced new rules banning the publication of full names or images of commanders during operations — a direct reaction to HRF’s investigation.
For the first time, Israel’s military has been forced to conceal its own officers from the world, not for operational security, but for fear of international arrest.
From The Hague to Westminster: Complicity Comes Home
As Israel faces unprecedented legal scrutiny, attention is turning to the Western politicians who armed and justified its campaign.
In Britain, the spotlight now falls on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and Attorney General Emily Thornberry — all of whom publicly endorsed Israel’s “right to defend itself” while it starved, bombed, and displaced the population of Gaza.
Keir Starmer’s Endorsement of Collective Punishment
In October 2023, Starmer told LBC Radio that Israel “has the right to withhold power and water” from Gaza — a statement human-rights lawyers immediately identified as an endorsement of collective punishment, prohibited by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. His government later continued to approve arms exports and blocked parliamentary calls for a ceasefire.
David Lammy’s Role in Arming Israel
As Foreign Secretary, Lammy authorised export licences for components used in aircraft and precision munitions deployed over Gaza. Rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Centre for Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) have warned that such transfers make Britain complicit in “aiding and abetting” war crimes.
Emily Thornberry’s Legal Defence of Starvation
Thornberry, a barrister and now Attorney General, defended Israel’s siege as a proportionate security measure. The ICJ’s ruling now exposes that argument as legally untenable, describing Israel’s actions as “the deliberate use of starvation against civilians.”
Under Article 25 of the Rome Statute, individuals who knowingly provide substantial assistance to war crimes can be prosecuted for aiding and abetting. The ICJ’s finding that Israel’s blockade was unlawful provides the factual foundation; Britain’s material support provides the link.
Legal experts believe British officials could face personal criminal liability before the ICC if the court widens its Palestine investigation — a process already underway since 2021.
The World’s Streets Have Spoken
While judges deliberate in The Hague, the public has delivered its verdict.
For nearly two years, millions have marched through London, New York, Paris, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, and Berlin, demanding an end to the siege and accountability for genocide.
In London, some marches have drawn hundreds of thousands, making them the largest demonstrations since the run-up to the Iraq War — with banners reading “Starving Children Is Not Self-Defence” and “Prosecute War Criminals — All of Them.”
The chants no longer stop at Netanyahu’s name. They now include “Starmer, Lammy, Thornberry — Complicit in Genocide.”
This global movement has become the moral counterpart to the legal struggle — millions of citizens refusing to accept the silence of governments or the delays of diplomacy.
The Walls Are Truly Closing In
Benjamin Netanyahu — once the untouchable strongman of Israel — now plots his routes around international arrest. He avoids Europe’s skies, not for safety but for fear of justice.
The ICJ has ruled the siege illegal.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants.
The Hind Rajab Foundation has turned documentation into prosecution.
And in cities across the world, the crowd’s verdict is unmistakable: no more impunity.
For Israel, the question is no longer if accountability will come, but when.
For its Western enablers — the politicians who armed, excused, and defended a war that killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children — the question is whether they will stand with the victims or beside the accused.
As one senior jurist told Le Monde:
“The era of impunity for powerful nations is ending. The law has learned to travel.”
Hind Rajab’s final plea — the trembling voice of a six-year-old calling for help — still echoes across the ruins of Gaza. The state that silenced her now faces justice and those who enabled it may soon hear The Hague calling their names next.
