Refaat Alareer, co-editor of Gaza Unsilenced and featured on many IPA news releases, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Shejaiya, Gaza that also killed his brother, sister, and her four children. Countless people remembered his work online. He was regularly interviewed by the Electronic Intifada, his last words to them were: “The mere thought of a prolonged genocide terrifies us because nothing kills like hunger.”
AHMED ABOFOUL, [limited availability Friday, more thereafter] a.abofoul@alhaq.org, @AhmedAbofoul Abofoul is in the U.S. until Dec. 23, mostly New York City, as well as D.C. (Dec. 11 to 13).
He is the Hague representative for the Ramallah-based legal rights group Al-Haq. He is from Gaza and began his international legal career by doing an internship at the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Public Counsel for Victims.
Oxfam stated on Oct. 25 that “Starvation as weapon of war being used against Gaza civilians” and the threat has since grown more dire.
Abofoul just highlighted video of hundreds of Palestinians trying to get food in a post that quoted from the Rome Statute which that ICC prosecutor, British barrister Karim Khan, is supposed to uphold: “‘Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.’ is a WAR CRIME. cc @KarimKhanQC.”
Abofoul was just quoted in a British Guardian article about Al-Haq legal action against the British government, “UK government faces legal challenge over arms exports to Israel,” saying: “The UK has a legal and moral obligation to not grant licences for the sale of British weapons to regimes that commit atrocity crimes.”
See viral thread Abofoul recently posted regarding the lack of action against Israel by the ICC. Last month, he co-wrote with Shawan Jabarin, general director of Al-Haq: “We are Witnessing a Genocide Unfolding in Gaza: To Stop it, the ICC Prosecutor Must Apply the Law Without Fear or Favour.”Also see: “Is the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan Fit for Purpose?” by Hasmik Egian and Mouin Rabbani.