Middle East

Introduction On 27 November 2024, Israel appealed two decisions of the Pre-Trial Chamber that were issued simultaneously with the arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The first decision rejected Israel's claim that it was entitled to a new Art. 18 notification because the OTP's s investigation after October 7 was substantially different than the investigation the OTP opened...

[Laura van der Hoeven holds academic degrees in Public International Law and Business Administration. Her work focuses on the intersection of foreign relations and international law, with particular interest in security alliances, soft power diplomacy, and the application of international law to territorial disputes.] The ongoing conflict in the Gaza region has resulted in severe humanitarian and environmental losses. While international...

[Ben Saul is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism] The Israeli human rights NGOs Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Hamoked recently reported that around 6,800 Palestinians are detained by Israel outside the regular criminal justice process. Approximately 3,436 are held as “unlawful combatants” captured in Gaza – although...

[Mona Rishmawi is an international human rights lawyer and a former senior UN official. She worked in several conflict contexts including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Libya, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Syria.] This post is written in the author's personal capacity. Israel has resumed pounding Gaza. Civilian casualties are mounting, and humanitarian assistance once again is weaponized....

[Luciano Pezzano is Professor of Human Rights at the University of Business and Social Sciences (UCES, Argentina) and Lecturer of Public International Law at the National University of Cordoba (UNC, Argentina)] On 5 March 2025, the Republic of Sudan instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for breaches of the Genocide Convention. The...

[Mark Klamberg is professor of international law at Stockholm University and currently resides in Washington, DC, where he is affiliated with American University WCL and the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project. Alexandra Lily Kather provides expert legal advice to a range of accountability actors, including the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council, on violations of international criminal law with a...

[Mark Klamberg is professor of international law at Stockholm University and currently resides in Washington, DC, where he is affiliated with American University WCL and the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project. Alexandra Lily Kather provides expert legal advice to a range of accountability actors, including the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council, on violations of international criminal law with a...

[Maria Crippa is a postdoctoral fellow in international criminal law at the University of Milan and a visiting researcher at the University of Tilburg. Matteo Colorio is a PhD candidate in international law at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and a visiting researcher at the University of Tilburg.] Introduction Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Elmasry, was arrested in Italy on...

[Dr Eitan Diamond serves as Manager and Senior Legal Expert at the Diakonia IHL Centre in Jerusalem. Dr Ellen Nohle serves as a Senior Legal Advisor and Legal Team Coordinator at the Diakonia IHL Centre in Jerusalem.   Anna-Christina Schmidl serves as a Legal Advisor at the Diakonia IHL Centre in Jerusalem.] Introduction Between 7 October 2023, when hostilities broke out in Israel and Gaza,...

[Dr Patrick Kroker is senior legal advisor with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, where he is responsible for the center's work on accountability for crimes in Syria. He is a German-qualified attorney and, in this capacity, regularly represents survivors of international crimes in UJ investigations and trials, including in the first case on Syrian state torture in...