A global coalition of legal experts and organisations, backed by 135 eyewitness accounts and open-source intelligence (OSINT), plans to prosecute top Israeli military officials, junior officers as well as dual nationals for possible war crimes in Gaza, across world courts.
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics, which announced the launch of Global 195 on Tuesday, said the worldwide legal coalition "will ensure that domestic and international legal mechanisms are utilised to pursue individuals suspected of war crimes, wherever they may be."
"The coalition will simultaneously work within multiple jurisdictions to apply for private arrest warrants and initiate legal proceedings against those implicated."
ICJP said that some of the countries represented include Malaysia, Türkiye, Norway, Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Kingdom, adding Global 195 was founded to address the shortcomings of international bodies and states in prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.
The scope of Global 195 includes individuals from the Israeli military and political leadership, from senior policymakers to operational staff, accountable for international law violations, ICJP stated.
ICJP said that advanced preparations have already been made in the UK to pursue legal action against British citizens suspected of joining the Israeli military or committing war crimes in besieged Gaza, Israel-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
"The obstruction of international legal institutions in pursuing individuals responsible for war crimes in Palestine, coupled with the failure of national police forces to fulfill their obligations under humanitarian law and universal jurisdiction principles, has allowed impunity for Israeli suspected war criminals to persist," said Tayab Ali, ICJP's UK-based director.
Under international law, states must investigate and prosecute war crimes, yet these duties are often ignored, Ali said, adding the launch of Global 195 "is a necessary legal intervention to remedy this failure."
"By activating domestic legal mechanisms across multiple jurisdictions, we are ensuring that those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza are subject to legal accountability and no longer have anywhere to hide," he added.
TRT Global - Israeli army says early Tuesday that it has conducted air strikes in Gaza, the largest since a ceasefire with Palestinian group Hamas took effect on January 19.
Failure of international legal order
Huseyin Disli, vice president for Worldwide Lawyers Association, said his organisation fully supports the Global 195 initiative by filing the complaint in Türkiye as a crucial step in dismantling Israeli impunity.
"Palestine's case exemplifies 'legal subalternity' in international law — rights recognised in theory but denied in practice — while Zionist crimes continue unchecked," Disli said, adding no domestic court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli genocide-war criminals, exposing the failure of the international legal order.
Awang Armadajaya bin Awang Mahmud, Malaysian advocate and solicitor, said ICJP has collected overwhelming evidence of war crimes in Gaza and called upon his country "to escalate the necessary legal and diplomatic coordination among States for the investigation and prosecution of the alleged war criminals identified in the complaint."
"We have also made recommendations to the Government in relation to border control and restrictions, asset-freezing and potentially financial sanctions."
Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza — mostly with weapons and political backing offered by ally US — wounded over 115,000 and uprooted millions, who now face another 1948-like “Nakba” (catastrophe in Arabic) as Israel and US say they plan to ethnically cleanse all Palestinians in Gaza.
18 months of genocidal war
The Israeli military under direct orders from the extremist regime of Benjamin Netanyahu has pulverised neighbourhoods, dug up mass graves, destroyed cemeteries, bombed shops and businesses, flattened hospitals and morgues, run tanks and bulldozers over dead bodies, tortured jailed Palestinians with dogs and electricity, subjected detainees to mock executions and even raped many Palestinians.
Exhibiting sadistic behaviour during the genocide, Israeli soldiers have taunted Palestinian prisoners by claiming they were playing football with their children's heads in Gaza.
Israeli troops have livestreamed hundreds of videos of soldiers looting Palestinian homes, destroying children's beds, setting homes on fire and laughing, wearing undergarments of displaced Palestinians and stealing kids' toys.
In their mission to erase Palestine, Israeli troops have killed a record number of babies, medics, athletes and journalists — unprecedented in any war in this century.
According to Palestinian officials, some 70 percent of victims are women and children. They say Israel has killed around 18,000 Palestinian children and babies, a figure that aligns with estimates from many humanitarian organisations.
Many analysts say the reported death toll is a conservative estimate.
A group of almost 100 American doctors who served in Gaza estimated a death toll of more than 118,000 in October 2024. And, according to the UK medical journal The Lancet, the death toll could have been more than 180,000 by mid 2024.
Reneging on the ceasefire deal in effect since January 19 this year, Israel on Tuesday morning launched a wave of indiscriminate attacks across the tents and homes of displaced Palestinians, killing more than 400 Palestinians and wounding around 700 others amid a harsh siege from land, air and sea.
Israel's 528-day genocidal war in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with figures and institutions labelling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
International rights groups have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice is investigating genocide allegations filed by South Africa while the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrests of Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
