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Linking reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip to demilitarisation legitimises the ongoing genocide Israel has been committing in the enclave for more than two years and violates peremptory norms of international law.
This condition ignores the grave crimes committed by Israel against civilians and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and turns the population’s right to reconstruction into a bargaining chip for political leverage, in explicit breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, which require the protection of civilians and the provision of their basic needs without restriction or condition.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor condemns the comments made by EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, who tied Gaza’s reconstruction to Hamas’ demilitarisation. This stance significantly deviates from the EU’s commitment to preventing genocide by setting political and security conditions that endanger civilians’ rights to life and safety.
Kallas confirmed in remarks on 29 January and 2 February that “Gaza’s reconstruction will depend on Hamas’ demilitarisation,” underscoring a clear insistence on linking civilians’ rights to reconstruction and survival to a political condition unrelated to protection obligations under international law, particularly for a population in a territory almost entirely destroyed by the genocide Israel has been committing since October 2023.
The position adopted by the EU High Representative reinforces a systematic European approach of complicity, militarily, economically, and politically, with the ongoing Israeli genocide against Palestinian civilians. This approach is reflected in the continued failure to adopt meaningful accountability or pressure measures despite the grave and unprecedented crimes committed over the past two years, alongside the ongoing export of weapons and military equipment by key European Union states documented as being used in war crimes against Palestinian civilians, thereby engaging those states’ legal responsibility for contributing to and sustaining such violations.
The prevention or delay of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip falls within Article II(c) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which prohibits “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” The prohibition of genocide is a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permitted, rendering the conditioning of reconstruction, an essential requirement for the population’s survival, on the fulfilment of a political or security condition, including disarmament, legally void.
This condition constitutes a serious breach of the European Union’s and its Member States’ positive obligation to prevent genocide, which requires the use of all possible and legally available measures to halt and end the deadly living conditions imposed on the civilian population, rather than creating additional obstacles to their removal or using political and economic influence to shield the continuation or prolongation of the crime.
Lima Bustami, Head of the Legal Department at Euro-Med Monitor, stated that “both legal and moral imperatives require the European Union to direct its political pressure towards Israel as the party responsible for this destruction.”
“This should be achieved by suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement and linking all forms of economic, military, and diplomatic cooperation to the immediate cessation of the genocide, compliance with the rulings of the International Court of Justice, and the initiation of Gaza’s reconstruction alongside reparations for victims,” Bustami added. “Instead, Israel is imposing impossible living conditions on victims, effectively tying their right to life to security arrangements to which they are not a party.”
She continued, “This approach represents a flagrant inversion of justice: the perpetrator of genocide is effectively granted yet another veto over the reconstruction of what its military machinery has destroyed, while victims are punished twice, first through mass killing, and again by being denied their fundamental right to rebuild their lives.”
Euro-Med Monitor warns that these political conditions may be implemented on the ground by withholding or suspending reconstruction funding, restricting the entry of construction materials and essential goods, banning financial transactions, disrupting UN mechanisms and obstructing their work, or imposing other measures that deprive the population of life’s necessities. Such measures go beyond political bias and may legally amount to complicity in genocide, as they provide political cover and tangible material support that sustain deadly living conditions.
The conditioning of the fundamental rights of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, including the rights to housing, health, and survival, on political, military, or security objectives, constitutes collective punishment expressly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. It also undermines core principles of international humanitarian law, particularly the principle of distinction and the prohibition on punishing civilians for acts they did not personally commit, and places direct legal responsibility on those imposing such conditions for the resulting consequences.
Euro-Med Monitor stresses that the rules of international humanitarian law apply unconditionally, irrespective of political considerations, and that reconstruction is a legal right of victims and an essential component of the duty to provide reparation, not a reward or bargaining chip used for political gain at the expense of affected civilians’ rights.
This condition constitutes a grave violation of the international human rights framework, as reconstruction and the entry of necessary materials are indispensable to the realisation of the civilian population’s fundamental rights, foremost the rights to life, an adequate standard of living, housing, health, food, and water. The most vulnerable groups, particularly children and women, bear the brunt of this deprivation, as their rights are immediately and directly harmed by ongoing destruction, siege, and the denial of life-sustaining essentials.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, must publicly retract her statements linking Gaza’s reconstruction to demilitarisation and refrain from policies that provide cover for the continuation of genocide in the Gaza Strip and for Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people as a whole.
Influential international actors, particularly the European Union, must impose deterrent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Israel to compel compliance with the International Court of Justice’s rulings. This legal duty extends beyond permitting reconstruction to include the immediate imposition of a comprehensive arms export ban on Israel and ensuring accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes.
Euro-Med Monitor stresses that it is profoundly disgraceful for the European Union to deliberate over the conditions for rebuilding the destruction caused by machinery supplied by some of its Member States.
The international community must act decisively to compel Israel to comply with international law by immediately and comprehensively ceasing all crimes and grave violations against civilians in the Gaza Strip. Achieving justice requires activating a comprehensive and effective accountability process and guaranteeing victims the right to an effective remedy and to fair, comprehensive compensation for the material and moral harm suffered, as this is both an obligation on Israel and a legal entitlement for victims, unaffected by limitation periods.
Euro-Med Monitor calls on influential international actors, including the European Union, to comply fully with international law by separating the humanitarian track, including reconstruction as an inalienable right, from political and security considerations, ensuring that reconstruction is recognised as a legal duty and a right of victims rather than a tool of negotiation or coercion.
The international community must act urgently to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip and ensure the unrestricted entry of reconstruction materials, as this is a binding legal obligation and a humanitarian necessity to safeguard the rights, lives, and dignity of the civilian population. – Human Rights Monitor
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