Gaza: Between Genocide and the Collapse of the International Protection System, and the Absence of National Responsibility

In Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip, violations have transformed from isolated incidents into a systematic pattern of crimes that undermine the essence of protection established by international humanitarian law for civilians. What is happening in Gaza is not a war but rather a brutal aggression perpetrated by an occupying force that acts as if it is above international law. Attacking civilians, destroying infrastructure, imposing a blockade, starving, forcefully displacing people, and collective punishment are all practices prohibited by the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Collectively, these acts constitute serious violations that cannot be justified by military or security excuses.

According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, these acts fall under war crimes and crimes against humanity, including targeting civilians, using starvation as a method of warfare, destroying property and homes, including health, educational, and humanitarian institutions, and imposing collective punishment. These actions undermine the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

Genocide: Suspicion or Completed Crime?

The international legal discussion is no longer limited to war crimes and crimes against humanity but has extended to the most dangerous international crimes, namely genocide. The situation in Gaza has entered the judicial verification phase under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the International Court of Justice has acknowledged the existence of acts that could fall under this crime.

Numerous international human rights organizations have deemed the situation in Gaza as rising to the level of genocide or falling within its scope, based on the widespread killings, the extensive and recurrent targeting of civilians, particularly children and women, the systematic destruction of living conditions, and the use of blockade and starvation while depriving the population of the essentials for survival.

When Law is Powerless Against Strength

The dilemma lies not in the absence of legal texts but in the lack of political will and enforcement mechanisms. The paralysis of the Security Council, ongoing political and military support for Israel, and double standards in applying international law have drained the international protection system of its practical content. Meanwhile, a large part of the international community remains satisfied with statements of concern and condemnation, while on-ground realities continue unchanged. This contradiction between the enormity of the crime and the limited response reveals a deep crisis in the international system.

After the Ceasefire: Managing War Through Other Means

Despite what has been termed a ceasefire agreement, and despite the resistance fulfilling its obligations in the first phase, Israel has not adhered to the agreement's requirements, continuing its military operations and daily killings and targeting of civilians. Simultaneously, the occupation forces have continued to impose new realities on the ground by expanding military control areas within the Gaza Strip, significantly reducing the available space for the population and turning large parts of the Strip into prohibited or threatened areas. Additionally, the obligations related to bringing in mobile homes or commencing actual reconstruction have not been fulfilled, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in dire humanitarian conditions.

Moreover, the arrangements for managing the Strip remain stalled, as the Gaza Management Committee has been unable to play any actual role, and its members have not been allowed to enter the Strip. This risks transforming it from a formal framework into merely a cover for the reality of the Israeli plan to maintain the Strip in a state of political and administrative vacuum, executing a strategy of mass displacement whenever the opportunity arises. The danger of these realities extends beyond the continuation of humanitarian suffering to attempts to impose new political and security arrangements, and to manage the war through other means by entrenching the on-ground realities and preventing the formation of a Palestinian reference capable of managing the post-war phase.

Conversely, these developments raise major Palestinian questions about the continued stakes of the dominant Palestinian parties in the scene, with each clinging to the possibility of independently leading the upcoming phase, regardless of the magnitude of the national catastrophe that has befallen the Palestinian people.

International Inability and the Palestinian Political Vacuum

The Palestinian experience has proven that reliance solely on the justice of the international system is insufficient, and that merely condemning violations does not halt them. International law does not operate in a vacuum; it is influenced by power balances and the ability to translate texts into pressure and accountability tools. Thus, the Palestinian challenge lies not only in proving the crime or legally characterizing it, but also in building a national, political, and legal power capable of transforming the moral and legal capital that the Palestinian cause has accumulated into real elements of influence.

A Palestinian Strategy for Confrontation

There is an urgent need for a comprehensive national strategy based on unity of political representation and national agreement for rebuilding the Palestinian political system on democratic and participatory foundations, enabling the Palestinian people to have a unified national reference capable of managing the conflict politically, legally, and diplomatically. The internal division has ceased to be merely a political crisis; it has become one of the most dangerous factors weakening the Palestinian capacity to protect and defend national rights, opening the door for arrangements that exceed the collective national will.

At the same time, reality compels Palestinians to invest in the moral and legal capital that the Palestinian cause has gained in global public opinion, in universities, trade unions, civil society organizations, and international solidarity movements, as the conflict has also become a struggle over legitimacy, narrative, and global awareness.

So That Genocide Does Not Become Fate

The protection of the homeland and our people's right to a decent life does not begin only with confronting crime but with the ability to rebuild elements of national resilience, preserve social fabric, and unify political will. Peoples living under occupation do not win solely by what they possess in means of strength, but also by their capacity for survival and preventing the crime from achieving its political goals.

Perhaps the most dangerous thing a Palestinian can offer his oppressor is to surrender to helplessness or submit to the notion that the balance of power is an eternal fate. The occupier may possess strength, but it does not and will not possess legitimacy. The law may be delayed, but it does not lose its value as long as there is a people who holds on to its rights and continues its struggle for freedom, dignity, and life.

If the impotence of the international system has allowed crimes to continue, the historical responsibility of the Palestinians does not lie in waiting for delayed justice, but in building elements of national, political, legal, and moral strength that prevent genocide from becoming fate or injustice from becoming a permanent reality.