Latest news with #international humanitarian law
CTV News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Belgium questions 2 Israelis at music festival over Gaza crime allegations
The burned main stage, rear, is seen as people listen to Nervo performing at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana) BRUSSELS — Belgian police questioned two members of the Israeli army who were attending a music festival in Belgium over allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Brussels said in a statement Monday. In a statement to The Associated Press, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said an Israeli citizen and an Israeli soldier who were on vacation in Belgium 'were taken in yesterday for interrogation and were released shortly afterward.' It said Israeli authorities 'dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two.' It was not immediately clear why the Israeli Foreign Ministry referred to one civilian and one soldier, while Belgian prosecutors spoke of two Israeli army members. The whereabouts of the two people who were questioned was not immediately clear. The case was hailed as a 'turning point in the global pursuit of accountability' by a Belgium-based group called the Hind Rajab Foundation, which has campaigned for the arrest of Israeli troops it accuses of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The group was named for a young girl who Palestinians say was killed early in the war by Israeli fire as she and her family fled Gaza City. It isn't the first time an Israeli has been targeted overseas for legal action. In January, Israel helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by the group, which uses geolocation and social media posts to identify soldiers they accuse of war crimes. Since forming last year, the Hind Rajab Foundation has made dozens of complaints in more than 10 countries seeking the arrest of both low-level and high-ranking Israeli soldiers. It was not immediately clear if any soldiers have been arrested as a result of the group's actions. The group did not immediately respond to an email seeking details. 'We will continue to support the ongoing proceedings and call on Belgian authorities to pursue the investigation fully and independently,' the group said in its statement. 'Justice must not stop here — and we are committed to seeing it through.' Israel says its forces follow international law and try to avoid harming civilians, and that it investigates allegations of wrongdoing. In a written statement, the prosecutor's office said that the two army members — who were in Belgium for the Tomorrowland festival — were questioned after the office received legal complaints on Friday and Saturday from the Hind Rajab Foundation and another group. The prosecution office requested the questioning after an initial assessment of the complaints 'determined that it potentially had jurisdiction.' The Hind Rajab foundation said it filed its complaints along with the rights group Global Legal Action Network. The decision to question the two Israelis was based on an article in Belgium's Code of Criminal Procedure that went into force last year and grants Belgian courts jurisdiction over acts overseas that are potentially governed by an international treaty, in this case the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1984 United Nations convention against torture, the prosecution statement said. 'In light of this potential jurisdiction, the Federal Prosecutor's Office requested the police to locate and interrogate the two individuals named in the complaint. Following these interrogations, they were released,' the statement said, without elaborating. It said it was not providing any further information at this stage of its investigation. The European Jewish Association criticized Belgian authorities for acting on what it called a politically motivated complaint. 'These soldiers were carrying out their lawful duties in defence of their country, duties comparable to those of any soldier serving in a democratic nation,' the association said in a statement. The news in Belgium came as the UN food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory's Health Ministry said was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war. The death toll in war-ravaged Gaza has climbed to more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. ____ Melanie Lidman and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem and Molly Quell in The Hague contributed to this report. The Associated Press
Al Arabiya
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
‘Extremely high' risk of serious abuses amid expanded Israel Gaza operation: UN
Israeli displacement orders, followed by intensive attacks, on Deir al-Balah in Gaza will lead to further civilian deaths, the head of the UN human rights office said on Tuesday. 'It seemed the nightmare couldn't possibly get worse. And yet it the concentration of civilians in the area, and the means and methods of warfare employed by Israel until now, the risks of unlawful killings and other serious violations of international humanitarian law are extremely high,' Volker Turk, the head of the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights said on Tuesday in a statement.
The Independent
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Group of 25 countries tell Israel to end the war ‘now'
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and 24 other foreign ministers, along with the EU's Commissioner for Equality, have condemned Israel for depriving Gazans of "human dignity". They urged the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on aid flow and called for the war to "end now", describing the suffering of civilians as having reached "new depths". The ministers stated that proposals to move 600,000 Palestinians to a "humanitarian city" in Rafah are "completely unacceptable" and constitute a violation of international humanitarian law. They condemned the "drip feeding of aid" and the killing of hundreds of Palestinians while seeking assistance, calling Israel's denial of essential humanitarian aid unacceptable. Mr Lammy later told the Commons that ignoring calls from the UK and other nations for the war in Gaza to end is "tarnishing greatly the reputation of Israel".
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations
Belgian authorities have said they briefly held and questioned two Israeli citizens who attended an electronic music festival last week, after pro-Palestinian groups accused them of war crimes. Prosecutors said they had received legal complaints alleging that two Israeli soldiers responsible for 'serious violations of international humanitarian law' in Gaza were spotted at the Tomorrowland festival near the northern city of Antwerp. The federal prosecutor's office said it had asked the police to locate the two people named in the complaint and to interview them. 'Following these interviews, they were released,' it said in a statement. The office said it had taken action after concluding that Belgian courts had extraterritorial jurisdiction over alleged war crimes. 'No further information will be given at this stage of the investigation,' the office said. The two Israelis have not been named. Last week, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Belgian pro-Palestinian organisation, said it had identified two Israeli soldiers 'responsible for grave international crimes' in Gaza among the crowds at Tomorrowland. It claimed that a group of young Israeli men were seen at the festival waving a flag of the Givati Brigade, an Israeli military unit involved in the fighting in the Palestinian territory. HRF said it had filed a complaint with prosecutors in association with the Global Legal Action Network, a lawyers' group specialising in human rights violations. One of the world's largest electronic music festivals, Tomorrowland draws music enthusiasts from all over the world. About 400,000 people are expected to attend the event this year over two weekends.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Belgian police question Israelis over alleged Gaza war crimes
Belgian authorities have interrogated two members of the Israeli military following allegations of serious breaches of international humanitarian law committed in Gaza, the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Brussels said. The two people were questioned after legal complaints were filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network. The complaints were submitted on Friday and Saturday as the soldiers attended the Tomorrowland music festival in Belgium. 'In light of this potential jurisdiction, the Federal Prosecutor's Office requested the police to locate and interrogate the two individuals named in the complaint,' said the prosecutor's office in a written statement on Monday. 'Following these interrogations, they were released.' The questioning was carried out under a new provision in Belgium's Code of Criminal Procedure, which came into effect last year. It allows Belgian courts to investigate alleged violations abroad if the acts fall under international treaties ratified by Belgium – including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture. The prosecutor's office said it would not release further information at this stage of the investigation. The Hind Rajab Foundation, based in Belgium, has been campaigning for legal action against Israeli soldiers over alleged war crimes in Gaza. It is named after a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli fire while fleeing Gaza City with her family early in Israel's war on Gaza. Since its formation last year, the foundation has filed dozens of complaints in more than 10 countries, targeting both low- and high-ranking Israeli military personnel. The group hailed Monday's developments as 'a turning point in the global pursuit of accountability'. 'We will continue to support the ongoing proceedings and call on Belgian authorities to pursue the investigation fully and independently,' the foundation said in a statement. 'Justice must not stop here – and we are committed to seeing it through.' 'At a time when far too many governments remain silent, this action sends a clear message: credible evidence of international crimes must be met with legal response – not political indifference,' the statement added. Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident, saying that one Israeli citizen and one soldier were interrogated and later released. 'Israeli authorities dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two,' the ministry said in a statement cited by The Associated Press news agency. The incident comes amid growing international outrage over Israel's conduct in its war on Gaza. More than two dozen Western countries called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza on Monday, saying that suffering there had 'reached new depths'. After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza's more than two million people, Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the European Union, said in a joint statement that the war 'must end now'. 'The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,' the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of captives held by Palestinian armed groups and the free flow of much-needed aid. On Sunday, the World Food Programme accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid. It said that shortly after crossing through the northern Zikim crossing into Gaza, its 25-truck convoy encountered large crowds of civilians waiting for food supplies, who were attacked. 'As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' it said on X, adding that the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives' with many more suffering critical injuries. 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation. This terrible incident underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.' Gaza's Health Ministry described the Israeli attack, which killed at least 92 people, as one of the war's deadliest days for civilians seeking humanitarian assistance. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, according to local health officials. Much of the territory lies in ruins, with severe shortages of food, medicine and other essentials due to Israel's ongoing blockade.
