The United States has imposed sanctions on three Palestinian human rights organisations that petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel for alleged genocide in Gaza, according to a notice published on the Treasury Department’s website on Thursday.
The sanctions target the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, along with the Ramallah-based Al-Haq. All three groups were listed under what the Treasury described as ICC-related designations.
Push for international accountability
In November 2023, the groups formally asked the ICC to examine Israeli airstrikes on densely populated civilian areas, the blockade of Gaza, and the forced displacement of residents.
One year later, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri, citing alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The U.S. move follows earlier sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump’s administration against ICC judges and prosecutors over investigations involving both Israel and alleged crimes by American forces in Afghanistan.
ICC’s contested authority
Created in 2002, the ICC has jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed within its 125 member states. However, countries including the United States, Israel, China, and Russia do not recognise its authority.
Wider political backdrop
The announcement comes just days after the world’s largest association of genocide scholars passed a resolution declaring that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under international law.
Israel rejected that resolution as “disgraceful” and “entirely based on Hamas’ campaign of lies.”
The current conflict began in October 2023, when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza that has since killed 63,000 people, displaced nearly all of its population, and driven parts of the territory into famine, according to international monitors.
