A concentration camp is illegal – Israeli lawyers count the ways!
JVL Introduction
A number of Israeli lawyers have written to politicians and others urging them not to go ahead with the proposal to concentrate the people of Gaza into a small part of the south of the Gaza Strip (A camp where they will be vetted to be “allowed” to enter and not allowed to leave unless they are going to another country. The people who they aim to force into the concentration camp are those from or sheltering in Al Mawasi, which was supposed to be a safe zone, even though it has been bombed many times.
Here specific legal issues are raised; we can hope it will penetrate and if not through the Israeli leadership , then into the leaders across the world. It should be unbelievable that this can be made as a serious proposal but it seems for the Israeli State, one more war crime doesn’t matter especially – other than some words of condemnation – we have been able to get away with it.
This article was originally published by Just Security on Fri 11 Jul 2025. Read the original here.
Manifestly Illegal: Israeli International Law Scholars on the Stated Plan to “Concentrate” the Palestinian Population in South Gaza
Along with a group of other Israeli international law scholars, we have sent an urgent letter to Israel’s Minister of Defense, the IDF Chief of Staff, the Attorney General and other senior officials concerning a plan, presented by the Minister of Defense Israel Katz, to “concentrate” the population of Gaza in a so-called “humanitarian city” to be established on the ruins of Rafah. We argue that the plan is manifestly illegal, and if carried out would amount to a series of grave international crimes, and thus call upon the recipients to renounce it and ensure that it is not implemented.
The letter can be found here. In addition, the full text follows below.
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Illegal, how can it be illegal? This is not an ordinary Concentration Camp…….it’s an Israeli Concentration Camp.
Netanyahu and his government share Trump’s contempt for law, and show total disregard of the simple but vital notion that in any nation that can truly call itself democratic the law applies to everyone, without exception. The moral, ethical, spiritual corruption of the Netanyahu regime is beyond description, beyond all measure. This letter, like all the pleas for mercy and compassion that have gone before it, will not even touch the conscience of those to whom it is addressed.
It will be a moral concentration camp so that’s ok
What the lawyers say here is likely to make the most impact on the IDF and Israeli society generally:-
“Executing this plan could expose political persons as well as IDF officers and soldiers to significant legal risks, in the International Criminal Court in The Hague and in other jurisdictions. Unlike heads of state, who may enjoy immunity in some circumstances [debateable, I think], politicians and military personnel do not enjoy immunity, and no statute of limitations applies to the crimes described above.
Anyone who plans, authorizes, or carries out this plan may be held personally responsible for serious international crimes. We believe that due to the obvious illegality, the defense of superior order will not be available, certainly not in international or foreign forums. Leaders and commanders who instruct IDF forces to execute this plan are effectively ordering them to carry out acts that are clearly unlawful, exposing them to criminal prosecution worldwide.”
The IDF and ordinary soldiers already understand any war crimes they’ve committed during their service in Gaza and elsewhere puts them at lifelong risk of prosecution worldwide. Courts in France, Spain and Peru are currently considering cases against individual soldiers. Over a thousand cases have been laid with ICC.
It’s reported there are blazing rows between senior IDF officers and the Netanyahu government over IDF involvement in the Rafah scheme.