Gaza local authorities demand independent genocide probe as truce starts

The Gaza Government Media Office has called for establishing an international panel to investigate Israel’s atrocities in the territory and hold Israeli leaders accountable.

After the ceasefire deal came into effect on Friday, director of the office, Ismail al-Thawabta, issued a list of demands, including ensuring the reconstruction of Gaza after the war.

“We call on the international community, the United Nations and all international legal organisations and the International Court of Justice to punish the leaders of the [Israeli] occupation and to not grant them any legal or political immunity,” al-Thawabta said in a statement.

“We call for forming an international, independent commission to investigate the war crimes and genocide and ensure that the return and compensation of all displaced people.”

Last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crime charges in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.

But Netanyahu and Gallant remain free men, and with a few exceptions, countries across the world have maintained their diplomatic and trade ties to Israel despite the horrors in Gaza.

Israel has turned most of Gaza into rubble in a campaign that leading rights groups and UN investigators have described as a genocide.

Reporting from Nuseirat in central Gaza on Friday, media’s Hind Khoudary said thousands of Palestinians are moving on foot to return to their homes in the north of the enclave.

“Most of those Palestinians are people who were forced to evacuate, forced to flee under the relentless bombardment, and now they’re going back home with smiles. They’re going back home happy,” Khoudary said.

“But they know they won’t find anything back home, where Israeli forces have been exploding and destroying complete residential neighbourhoods in the past couple of weeks.”

Before the ceasefire deal was reached, Israel was conducting a ground operation in Gaza City, a campaign that aimed to level what was left of the urban area.

The widespread destruction across Gaza has spurred an urgent need for construction material and equipment as well as temporary housing in the territory.

During a 60-day truce earlier this year, Israel blocked reconstruction material from entering Gaza before unilaterally restarting the war in March.

With Hamas set to release all Israeli captives in the coming days, some Palestinian rights advocates are concerned that Israel will use the lack of housing in Gaza to push residents out of the territory.

“We demand an urgent plan for the comprehensive reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, with Arab and international funding, according to a transparent mechanism that ensures that resources reach civilians,” al-Thawabta said on Friday.

He stressed that ending the war of extermination against Palestinians must be real and tangible, not just a formal declaration.

“It must end the siege, ensure accountability, and guarantee a dignified and safe life for our Palestinian people, who have endured two full years under bombardment, starvation, destruction and forced displacement,” al-Thawabta added.

As the war comes to a halt, the Gaza Government Media Office provided grim data from the territory after 735 days of horrific atrocities by Israel:

• More than 67,000 Palestinians killed
• Around 9,500 people missing
• About 170,000 people injured
• More than 20,000 children killed
• More than 1,000 babies under the age of one killed
• At least 12,500 women killed
• At least 1,670 medics killed
• 254 journalists killed
• 90 percent of civilian infrastructure destroyed
• Around 200,000 tonnes of explosives dropped on Gaza