Specifically targeting Palestinian civil society, the United States Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on three Palestinian human rights organizations. This step comes as violence has rapidly intensified in Gaza. The sanctions are aimed specifically at the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. These feature the Ramallah-based Al-Haq in their ranks. These organizations were among civil society that first called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate these alleged war crimes. They alleged that these crimes were committed by Israel through its military operations in Gaza.
The ongoing war in Gaza escalated after a brutal attack on civilians that Israel launched starting October 7, 2023. This military action was launched after Hamas, the militant group governing Gaza, attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the taking of 250 hostages back into Gaza. Now the world is faced with the fact that Israel’s operations have had catastrophic humanitarian impact. According to many reports, the current war has killed more than 63,000 thus far.
Violence is increasing at an alarming pace across Gaza. As a consequence, almost all of the roughly 3,000 residents have been evacuated from their homes at least two times. Years of attrition as well as this ongoing humanitarian crisis have already brought an alarming famine to parts of Gaza. Global hunger monitors are labeling the crisis as a catastrophe. The U.S. sanctions come as growing international pressure has begun to hold Israel accountable for its actions. Even the world’s largest academic association of genocide scholars has said that the legal standard for proving genocide in Gaza has already been met.
So far, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri. Global heavyweights—the U.S., China, Russia, and particularly Israel—do not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction over Gaza. Israel has condemned the ICC’s announcements as disgraceful and claimed they are based entirely on what it describes as Hamas’s campaign of lies.
Donald Trump’s U.S. administration responded by imposing sanctions on ICC judges and its chief prosecutor. Indeed, they went after them a great deal more than similar cases concerning Israeli arrest warrants and previous accusations regarding U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. The Biden administration’s recent sanctions against Palestinian political groups are rightly viewed as a continuation of this quelling logic.
The U.S. Treasury Department has publicly announced these sanctions, emphasizing that they are related to the requests made by these Palestinian organizations for an ICC investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza. The sanctions, combined with the ongoing war, have catastrophic effects. Their comments signal dire things for the upcoming fate of human rights advocacy in war-ravaged and politically fractious areas.