Netanyahu has boasted that the
Israeli army is destroying Palestinians' homes in Gaza to make sure they have
nothing to return to
Authorities
in Peru have opened a criminal investigation against an Israeli soldier accused
of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip during 2023–2024, according to the
Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF).
The
investigation was initiated following a complaint filed by prominent human
rights lawyer Julio César Arbizu González. The complaint alleges that the
individual, whose name has not been released, served as a combat engineering
soldier and took part in the "methodical and systematic destruction of
civilian neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip."
Footage
shared on social media showed the soldier celebrating while detonating a
civilian building.
HRF,
a Brussels-based NGO focused on taking legal action against Israeli soldiers
committing rights violations, says the suspect could face charges including
"war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide."
It
praised Lima's "adherence to the principles of international humanitarian
and criminal law." The principle of universal jurisdiction obliges
countries to prosecute serious crimes regardless of where they were committed
or the nationality of the suspects.
HRF
stated that the Combat Engineering Corps in which the soldier served was a
"core operational arm of destruction, systematically reducing civilian
areas to rubble, erasing entire communities, and rendering large swathes of
Gaza uninhabitable."
"Justice
is not optional. Justice is imperative," said Dyab Abou Jahjah, chairman
of the Hind Rajab Foundation. "This investigation marks a decisive step in
the dismantling of Israeli impunity," he added.
In
February, Jahjah told The Cradle, “There are two kinds of cases we are
fighting. You have the cases against dual nationals who have been participating
in the genocide in Gaza. And then you have cases against visiting soldiers, of
whom we don't know whether they have other nationalities, but we know that they
have been committing war crimes, and they travel abroad mostly for tourism.”
Earlier
this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset's Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday that Israel is "destroying more
and more houses [in Gaza and Palestinians accordingly] have nowhere to
return," according to quotes from the session leaked to the media.
"The
only obvious result will be Gazans choosing to emigrate outside of the
Strip," Netanyahu continued. "But our main problem is finding
countries to take them in."
Founded
in September 2024, the Hind Rajab Foundation is named after a Palestinian girl
who was brutally murdered, along with several members of her family and first
responders seeking to rescue her, by Israeli tank gunners in Gaza.
The
organization gathers open-source intelligence on Israeli soldiers, including
details of their military service, aiming to facilitate prosecutions abroad.
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