February 8, 2023
Sourani Holds Third Meeting with Families of Victims of Israeli Violations
Sourani Holds Third Meeting with Families of Victims of Israeli Violations

Ref: 06/2023

Date: 08 February 2023

Today morning, 08 February 2023, Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), held a third meeting at its head office in Gaza City with the families of the victims of 2014, 2021 and 2022 offensives and the victims of the Great March of Return as well as the crimes of the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip

Sourani provided an overview for the victims and their families of the recent updates on the International Criminal Court file and legal engagement with the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC ever since the decision taken by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC on 05 February 2021 emphasizing the court has jurisdiction over the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) and the ICC Prosecutor’s subsequent decision to form a committee to investigate crimes committed in the oPt.  Both decisions constituted the first step towards supporting victims’ access to justice. 

Sourani said that we hoped that those decisions would be the beginning of a new era of accountability for crimes committed against civilian victims and their families; However so far, we have not seen any tangible steps taken in this investigation, and Prosecutor Karim Khan has not taken any action in the situation of Palestine as the latter has not received the same level of attention, action and resources given to situations of other countries such as Ukraine.

During the meeting, Sourani briefed the victims and their families on PCHR’s hard legal work with the international legal staff and the partner organizations.  He also highlighted the most significant challenges and the advocacy campaign organized to shed light on the situation of Palestine and to stress that the Palestinian victims’ right to justice is at the same level and concern as others.  He said that in this regard, a conference and several meetings with diplomats and experts in international law were held at the beginning of December 2022 as well as delivering a speech on 06 December 2022 during the 21st session of the Assembly of High States Parties to the Rome Statute in the Hague.

At the end of the meeting, Sourani stressed that our legitimate legal struggle will continue in spite of all the challenges because we are the right holders and should advocate the sufferings of the victims and their families.

Meanwhile, the victims’ families said that they are side by side with PCHR and its staff whom they strongly believe would spare no effort to confront all difficulties until justice is achieved for the victims and their families.