The Hague, June 30 (RHC)-- No one is sure if International Criminal Court (ICC) will survive the Trump administration's pressures as attacks on Gaza aid seekers continue.
In an exclusive interview with Triestino Mariniello, a legal representative for Gaza victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Al Jazeera asked about potential legal ramifications over the killings of aid seekers in Gaza.
The attorney for Gaza victims at the ICC said Israel was violating international humanitarian law by setting up the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to deliver aid in the territory, which he added had been created to “bypass” the fundamental principles of humanitarian aid delivery: independence, impartiality, neutrality and humanity.
Beyond the violations of international humanitarian law in the aid delivery, Mariniello told Al Jazeera that intentional attacks on civilian aid seekers amounted to war crimes, which both individual members of the Israeli military and the GHF would bear liability for before the ICC.
Asked whether the families of those killed near GHF aid sites in Gaza could feel comfortable in getting justice, he said that they should – but acknowledged that it would require political support for the ICC, as it faced an unprecedented attack from the Trump administration.
The Trump administration has sanctioned International Criminal Court judges, and is reportedly considering pulling funding for groups that investigate war crimes. “The court is under incredible pressure and no one is sure, including the ICC staff, if in the next few months there will still be an International Criminal Court,” said Mariniello, adding that the court was “the only possibility” for the families of victims to get justice.
Triestino Mariniello said recent moves in Washington sent “a very dangerous” message about the new U.S. approach to international human rights law: that “there must be no accountability for serious violations of international law, according to the Trump administration.”
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and NEWS AGENCIES ]
