"Accountability cannot be swept under the rubble."
A coalition of more than 100 humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organizations on Friday said that the Gaza ceasefire agreement signed one year ago exists in “name only” amid continued Israeli attacks on the enclave.
The groups noted that Israeli military operations over the last year have killed at least 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 300 children, despite a supposed ceasefire being in effect.
The Israeli military has also pushed Palestinians “into an increasingly small and overcrowded area” by moving forces beyond the withdrawal line agreed to in the ceasefire plan, the groups said.
In addition to outlining the toll on civilian life, the groups also pointed to extensive damage to civilian infrastructure, pointing to recently published satellite images showing “neighborhoods reduced to rubble, homes flattened, and agricultural land razed.”
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, called it “utterly shameful” that so little had improved for Gaza residents since the ceasefire went into effect last year.
“Families are still being forced to make impossible choices,” said Egeland, “between sheltering in damaged and dangerous buildings or living in tents facing unbearable temperatures. Israeli restrictions are still preventing the required equipment or materials, which are the only ways for communities to begin rebuilding their lives.”
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, said the reality on the ground in Gaza shows that “a ceasefire is meaningless if children are still being killed and families are still unable to rebuild their lives.”
“Governments that backed this agreement must use their influence to stop the killing and ensure children can access food, healthcare, shelter, and education,” Ashing emphasized. “Gaza’s children have a right to safety and a future. Governments have the power to help secure both, and they must use it.”
Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, similarly called upon the international community to take responsibility not only for helping Palestinians, but also punishing Israel for violating the ceasefire plan.
“Accountability cannot be swept under the rubble,” said Callamard. “The recovery and future of Gaza cannot be separated from a framework grounded in international law, justice, and the rights of victims. The persistent failure to hold Israel accountable and press Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s binding orders continues to fuel the atrocity crimes on a mass scale against Palestinians.”
The groups’ assessment of the ceasefire deal was echoed by Shayna Lewis, deputy director of Win Without War, who said on Friday that “thegenocidecontinues” one year after the agreement was signed.
Lewis pointed the finger directly at US President Donald Trump for the continued suffering, arguing that the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza is his “peace plan in action.”
“The ceasefire agreement failed to include any real accountability mechanisms that might restrain the Israeli government’s aggression in Gaza,” Lewis said. “Moreover, his administration refuses to hold [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government to its word on ending bombings, withdrawing troops, or expanding humanitarian access.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said President Donald Trump's formation of a committee to investigate cook is part of his "dangerous quest to illegally take over our nation’s central bank."
Sen.Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said Friday that President Donald Trump’s formation of a new committee to investigateFederal ReserveGov. Lisa Cook amounts to “an illegitimate show trial in his dangerous quest to illegally take over our nation’s central bank.”
“Instead of playing judge in a kangaroo court of his own making, Trump should end the war in Iran and cancel his chaotic tariffs,” Warren (D-Mass.) said after the White House announced a “committee of inquiry” to investigate allegations that Cook “made false statements in connection with one or more mortgage instruments.” Cook, a frequent target of the president’s, has denied the White House’s repeated accusations that she committed mortgage fraud.
The White House said that the new committee—which will consist of three officials including Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett and the Trump-appointed acting director of theOffice of Government Ethics—will hold an in-person hearing at the White House on November 5 to “consider the evidence and allegations against Gov. Cook.”
In a Friday statement, Cook’s lawyers said they “have grave doubts that this ‘hearing’ is a legitimate one that would conform to the law.”
“If it is anything close to objective, the conclusion will be that Gov. Cook did not commit mortgage fraud,” said Abbe Lowell and Norm Eisen. “We have engaged with the White House to evaluate whether the process proposed has a possibility of being a genuine one and not simply a box-checking exercise.”
Trump attempted to fire Cook last year but was rebuffed by the US Supreme Court after the Fed governor took legal action to prevent her removal. Under federal law, the president can only remove members of the Fed Board of Governors “for cause.”
Critics argue that the Trump administration has concocted baseless mortgage fraud allegations against Cook to justify a politically motivated termination.
“Trump is escalating his smear campaign against Lisa Cook while turning the presidency into a personal ATM: crypto schemes, taxpayer-funded propaganda ads, cash for his family—the list could go on forever,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Friday. “This has nothing to do with ‘ethical concerns.’ It’s about Trump trying to seize control of the Fed, something that would mean even more economic chaos for American families.”
One US campaigner declared that "the Trump administration has taken a sledgehammer to the most important development in international justice in half a century."
“Globalist experts that are an ocean away... want the International Criminal Court to do more, including the prosecution of American citizens and service members that are defending their country,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed in a video posted on social media.
“They want to prosecute border patrol agents that are protecting our nation’s borders, and they want to prosecute our elected leaders that are ensuring our national security,” he continued. “PresidentDonald Trumpwill never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans.”
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling their ability to operate against us, because our message is clear: The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC,” Rubio said. “Both parties agree on this, but only President Trump has the resolve to take the action needed to end this threat once and for all.”
“Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC—and we expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American service members for their defense, to rein in this rogue court,” he added. “If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC piece by piece until Americans are threatened no longer.”
The United States has never been a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the Hague-based tribunal to investigate genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Since 2002, a federal law known as the Hague Invasion Act has empowered the president to prevent the ICC from detaining US or allied personnel. Although the court has probed alleged crimes by US citizens, it has never prosecuted anyone from the United States.
Trump and Rubio have been particularly hostile toward the ICC and imposed a series of sanctions since the president returned to power last year. They are especially angry about the court’s 2024 arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who welcomed Friday’s sanctions announcement—and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over their ongoing US-backed assault on the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 74,000 Palestinians and has been widely denounced as genocide, including by a United Nations commission that was chaired by South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. In addition to serving on that panel and the ICC, she has been a High Court of South Africa judge, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda president, and UN high commissioner for human rights. She remains an International Court of Justice ad hoc judge.
Trump has publicly demanded the prize for years—while threatening to invade various nations, abducting a foreign leader, killing hundreds of people by blowing up dozens of boats on the high seas, and bombing more countries than any other US commander in chief this century, including Iran, where his and Israel’s illegal war is ongoing. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who often ridicules the president, even compiled a supercut of his frequent comments about the award on Thursday, in anticipation of Friday’s announcement.
After Pillay was revealed as the winner, Trump predictably attacked her. However, rather than commenting directly, he shared a post on his Truth Social platform in which US lawyer David I. Schoen claimed that the selection committee “shamed itself beyond repair and demeaned the once great Nobel Peace Prize” by giving it to Pillay, calling her “an unabashed hater of America and Israel” who has “celebrated terrorists and rewarded Hamas.”
Schoen also suggested that Trump should receive the prize for the Abraham Accords, as well as because “he is making best efforts to end the Russia/Ukraine war, to stop Iran, the number one sponsor of international terrorism, and he is trying to rebuild Gaza despite the terrorists’ best efforts to control it.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday that the US leader “played a historic role in advancing peace in South Asia. His timely intervention helped bring Pakistan and India back from the brink and secure a ceasefire, that is holding till today. In recognition of his outstanding contribution, Pakistan had nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Earlier this year, shortly after US troops invaded Venezuela to abduct President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gifted her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Trump. Pillay joked to those applauding her on Friday that “if you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.”
“Navi Pillay has dedicated her career to defending human rights, fighting impunity and strengthening international justice,” Alexis Deswaef, president of the International Federation for Human Rights, said Friday. “At a time when those who uphold international law are increasingly under attack, this award is a powerful reminder that justice is essential to peace, and that those who defend it must be protected.”
While also celebrating Pillay’s win, Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard ripped the US war against the ICC on social media: “I am writing this from Nuremberg, where 80 years ago, American judges and lawyers played a crucial role in trying the highest Nazi leaders and commanders, and establishing the foundational principles of international criminal law. 80 years later, what a betrayal. The Trump administration’s decision is appalling. But ultimately, it is not about them. It is about us.”
The United States’ “grotesque decision is a test for all European governments which have been tiptoeing, shying away from confronting and responding to the predatory actions from the Trump administration,” said the French human rights leader. “They now need to rise to the moment. History demands of Europe that it stands for international justice and its institutions. There is only one possible response: impose immediately blocking orders. The US sanctions cannot and should not be implemented on European territory. This is not a USA moment. This is an ‘Us’ moment. Let’s rise to it. Because humanity must win.”
Isabelle Hayslip, advocacy associate at the US-based Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), also highlighted that the European Union “has a tool built exactly for when rogue states use sanctions to further political aims: a blocking statute that can shield the court and Europeans from US sanctions.”
“If states won’t act now to protect the court as they have repeatedly vowed to do, then when?” Hayslip asked. “Every day they wait, European banks move closer to abandoning the court out of fear of Washington.”
The European Commission—the EU’s executive arm—said Friday that the bloc “has been a constant supporter” of the court, called the new sanctions “deeply regrettable,” and pledged to “work closely with the ICC to ensure it continues to operate effectively.”
“And we remain committed to working with all 125 states that are parties to the Rome Statute to preserve and respect its independence so that it can continue its vital mission,” the commission continued. “As there is a six-month delay before the measures are applicable, there is room for dialogue. The EU stands ready to take any necessary measures to enable the court to carry out its work both in investigating and prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to protect the interests of EU operators within the single market.”
Noting that “ICC prosecutors also have tools when a state intimidates or retaliates to stop court officials from doing their jobs: The Rome Statute makes this a crime,”DAWN’s Hayslip argued that “they should investigate and prosecute Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and other senior administration officials for obstructing justice.”
Her organization and the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide previously took legal action in US court, suing over Trump’s related Executive Order 14203 in July.
“In applying tools reserved for the most serious criminals to the world’s only permanent international court, the US is claiming the power to jail for 20 years Americans who represent a victim, submit evidence, or handle payroll for the court,” Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director, stressed Friday. “We have taken the Trump administration to court, because such brazen declarations trample the fundamental constitutional rights of millions of Americans. No president has that power.”
The group’s executive director, Omar Shakir, said that “by sanctioning the entire International Criminal Court, the Trump administration has taken a sledgehammer to the most important development in international justice in half a century.”
Shakir warned that “US sanctions threaten to shut the last viable road to justice for millions of victims of serious crimes, from Gaza and Sudan to Afghanistan and Ukraine—all to shield Israeli officials who have perpetrated a genocide from justice.”
The ICC itself forcefully condemned the Trump administration’s latest “unprecedented” sanctions as “an attempt to obstruct the course of justice” as well as “an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order which strikes at the simple principle that no one stands above the law.”
ICC President Tomoko Akane vowed that “the court will continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality, acting only on the basis of the law and the evidence, for the sake of the countless victims of grave crimes.”
"The world’s supposedly greatest (or formerly greatest) democracy has arrived at a horrific new moral nadir," said one columnist of the plan to livestream the killing by firing squad of Nidal Hasan.
As rights advocates across the US expressed horror at the Trump administration’s confirmed plans to publicly broadcast the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former military psychiatrist who was convicted of killing 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in 2009, the top United Nationshuman rights expert warned that the public state killing would violate international laws prohibiting torture.
“The livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture,” the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told Agence France-Presse Friday.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, the US Army announced that Hasan would be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood on December 3, with the Trump administration inviting the public to watch the shooting via livestream.
The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in June that all capital punishment must be abolished worldwide, as “severe physical pain and psychological distress are an inherent part of the design and implementation” of the practice.
The OHCHR has particularly spoken out against public executions, such as those that have been carried out in Afghanistan and Iran.
Public killings by the state “constitute a form of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,” the office has said.
“This planned livestreamed execution says it all about what is happening in America today, opening the window ever wider on the Trump administration’s moral vacuity and its paucity of human decency.”
Should the livestream go forward, Hasan’s execution will be the first public state-sanctioned killing in the US in 90 years, according to Michael L. Radelet, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder, an expert on capital punishment.
Rainey Bethea, a Black man, was hanged in Kentucky in 1936 after reportedly confessing to the killing of a white woman. He was never charged with murder. Thousands of people attended his execution outside a courthouse.
As Edmarverson A. Santos wrote at the independent research platform Diplomacy & Law, the Trump administration’s proposed execution livestream “raises substantial concerns under international human rights law.”
“The UN Human Rights Committee expressly interprets Article 7 of the [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] as prohibiting public executions and considers executions conducted in violation of that provision to constitute arbitrary deprivations of life under Article 6,” wrote Santos. “A government-sponsored livestream accessible to the general public could fall within that interpretation, particularly where the condemned person’s death is deliberately displayed as part of the state’s punitive message.”
“Hasan’s conviction for intentional murder and the presidential approval of his death sentence do not independently establish the legality of publicly broadcasting his execution,” Santos added.
Paul Daley, a columnist for The Guardian Australia, wrote Thursday that the planned livestream—and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement that the execution will be made viewable to all to show that “there’s serious consequences for these types of things”—amounted to “state-sanctioned killing as entertainment.”
“The world’s supposedly greatest (or formerly greatest) democracy has arrived at a horrific new moral nadir,” wrote Daley. “This represents a significant lurch in the US from civilization towards savagery... And this planned livestreamed execution says it all about what is happening in America today, opening the window ever wider on the Trump administration’s moral vacuity and its paucity of human decency.”
"Thank you so much," said the international jurist in a moment of jest. "If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump."
The international reputation of the Nobel Peace Prize, which has suffered in progressive and human rights circles over recent years, may be on the path to improvement after Friday’s announcement that this year’s award has been given to Navi Pillay, a person of “exceptional courage” who has been at the forefront of accountability efforts for apartheid, prosecuting war crimes, and upholding international law for decades.
In its statement, The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Pillay—who during her career served as a judge on the High Court in South Africa, her native country, and later the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court (ICC)—“has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.”
Pillay also served for six years as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 2008 to 2014, and more recently chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which generated a 2025 report concluding that the Israeli government had committed genocide in Gaza.
“The last thing I did is the report on Gaza naming what is happening there as genocide,” Pillay said Friday. “One of the main reactions to that report is paying tribute to me for my ‘courage.’ And you can imagine our surprise—why would you need courage to speak the truth?”
“Is it true?” asked Pillay when first notified of the award, fittingly while at the Nuremburg Court where Nazi’s were tried for their atrocities of last century.
In a moment of levity, surrounded by colleagues applauding her achievement, Pillay said, “Thank you so much. If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with [US President Donald] Trump.”
Trump, accused of war crimes himself, has notoriously said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize despite his record of violating international laws, kidnapping or assassinating foreign heads of state, initiating wars of aggression, and carrying out a lawless campaign of lethal attacks in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean which human rights experts have denounced as “murder spree.”
Volker Türk, the current UN high commissioner for human rights, said the award going to Pillay represents “a proud moment for the global human rights movement,” and that to call it “well-deserved” would be “a understatement.”
“At a time when human rights are under attack on so many fronts, including from those who wield enormous power, this award is particularly poignant,” Türk continued. “It is an award to all those who, around the world, dedicate their lives to the defense of human rights—at great risk to their security.”
Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, called Pillay’s selection an “amazing moment” for human rights.
“We are at the Nuremberg Court; I cannot think of a stronger symbol for her Nobel prize,” said Callamard. “We are all so thrilled!”
“At a time of existential challenges—including more wars and conflicts than the world has seen in a long time—international law is no longer just a supplement to peace and security. It is an absolute necessity,” the Nobel Committee said in its announcement.
Warning that “the system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack,” the committee said “a shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice” threatens peace and stability worldwide, a veiled but clear reference to the antagonism the US government under Trump has shown to the ICC, the United Nations, and other legal institutions and frameworks.
“Whenever might overtakes right, it undermines stability, trust and peaceful co-existence,” the statement said. And continued:
History has shown that a world operating without the rule of law is unjust, unwise and inhumane. The judges – those who guard the thin red line between order and chaos—are therefore highly deserving of our praise. But today, as these same judges are sanctioned, and their institutions are attacked, we need people of courage, vision and determination—qualities that Navi Pillay demonstrates in her work on the bench.
Pillay, it concluded, “is one of the great defenders of international legal principles in our time. Her distinguished career reminds us of the need to support, fortify and expand the global rule of law. Navi Pillay’s commitment to justice and human dignity is a source of hope and inspiration to all who seek to bring about a more peaceful world.”
As Türk put it in his remarks, recognition of Pillay’s work and legacy by the Nobel committee is “a reaffirmation that human rights, the rule of law and justice and accountability are fundamental to everything—to peace, security and prosperity.”
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“No child should have to sit and watch while masked officers open fire on his father.”
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to the media outside of the US Capitol on August 31, 2026 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
Two top progressive Democratic leaders were among those demanding an end on Friday to the 23-year-old federal agency that has provoked outrage and fear across US communities over the past 21 months under Trump administration—most recently on Thursday night, when a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fired seven shots into a car being driven by an immigrant in New York City, while his 5-year-old son sat in the back seat.
“ICE’s already unwelcome presence in our city has been growing more escalatory and dangerous by the day. Today’s shooting is a grave development that requires a swift and immediate response to protect the safety of all New Yorkers,” said US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), whose district lies near Marble Hill, the site of the shooting of 28-year-old Oscar Belgal.
Belgal was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for injuries to his neck before ICE agents took him away in an unmarked vehicle. His son was physically unharmed and was in the care of relatives on Friday, but a number of Democratic officials, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, condemned the agency for leaving the child “traumatized and terrified.”
“ICE is a rogue, lawless paramilitary and surveillance agency,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who has been named as a potential 2028 presidential candidate or a contender for US Senate in New York, where Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is up for reelection in 2028.
“It does not belong in New York City and it should not exist in the United States of America,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “Abolish ICE.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), another potential candidate for president in 2028, joined the congresswoman in calling for ICE to be abolished—a demand once dismissed as a fringe viewpoint, but now shared by about half the country, including 77% of Democratic voters and 52% of independents.
Khanna said that Democrats in Congress must take action after the midterm elections, which are widely expected to put them in control of at least one if not both chambers of Congress.
“No child should have to sit and watch while masked officers open fire on his father,” said Khanna. “House Democrats have a duty when we take the majority. Get ICE agents off our streets. Keep them away from our children. Abolish ICE.”
A federal judge in New York City ordered ICE not to deport Belgal, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, while the court considers an emergency petition requesting his release from detention.
Agents approached Belgal when he was parked in front of a fire hydrant on West 225th Street. The officers were dressed in construction vests and had face masks on, and one was wielding a long gun on the busy street where children were walking home from school.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) noted that ICE’s use of “disguises and masks” was not an isolated incident in Marble Hill, with some posing “as electricians in Phoenix last month to arrest a man in his own home.”
Belgal was reportedly pulling away when an officer shot at him. It is against Department of Homeland Security policy to shoot into a moving vehicle, with limited exceptions.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called on President Donald Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin to “hold rogue ICE agents accountable.”
“What type of president and country not only allows, but causes, our children to be traumatized?” said Pressley. “Abolish ICE NOW.”
A banner showing portraits of doctors killed in Israeli attacks hangs on the decimated Special Surgery Building at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza Strip on January 3, 2026.
(Photo by Eyad Azam/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
A petition signed by nearly 6,500 healthcare workers demands accountability for the Israeli Medical Association, accusing the organization of complicity in human rights violations.
Thousands of healthcareworkers from across the globe are calling on the World Medical Association to suspend Israel’s membership in the organization over the government’s mass killing and detention of medical professionals in Gaza, destruction of the Palestinian territory’s healthcare system, and ongoing genocide.
The demand came as the WMA’s General Assembly gathered in The Netherlands for its annual meeting, which runs through Saturday. A petition addressed to WMA leadership and signed by around 6,500 healthcare workers declares that the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) has “failed to uphold core medical ethical standards” and is “complicit in serious violations of medical neutrality and human rights, committed by the Israeli military and government.”
Supporters of the petition campaign demanded that the WMA suspend the IMA “until it publicly upholds medical ethics and humanitarian law, condemns murder and torture of Palestinian health workers and takes action against violations by its members.” They also called on individual national members of the WMA to follow the example of the South African Medical Association, the British Medical Association, and the Turkish Medical Association in cutting institutional ties with the IMA.
“Medical ethics are the foundation of trust in healthcare,” the petition states. “The international medical community has acted before, including during apartheid in South Africa. If medical ethics are to mean anything in the future, and we are to have confidence that the WMA can fulfill its role as the international guardian of medical ethics, then it must take concerted action to hold the IMA to account.”
The Israeli military has killed around 1,700 healthcare workers and detained hundreds more without charge since it began its massive assault on Gaza in the aftermath of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks.
Last year, the IMA defeated a similar effort to suspend its WMA membership. Instead, the WMA General Assembly adopted a toothless resolution calling on the Israeli government to “instantly halt all forms of attacks on healthcare personnel, patients, healthcare facilities, and food and medical aid logistics.”
“Thirty years of WMA dialogue with the IMA has done nothing but give the IMA a sense of impunity. Why should they change?” Jonathan Fluxman, a British Medical Association member and retired doctor, said in a statement on Friday. “It is time for national medical associations and the WMA to speak out and take action. Break your ties with the IMA and suspend the IMA from the WMA now.”
“Either a white coat is worth protecting everywhere, or it is protected nowhere.”
Earlier this week, Doctors Without Borders—known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)—called onthe WMA to “join the calls to conduct swift, transparent, and impartial investigations into attacks on healthcare in Gaza and theWest Bank, while reiterating its call for the release of all arbitrarily detained healthcare workers.”
Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, MSF’s international president, highlighted the case of Abu Safiya, the former head of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital who has been detained by Israeli authorities for over 18 months without charge.
“He continues to endure prolonged solitary confinement, severe weight loss, and untreated pre-existing conditions; an international petition for his release has drawn signatories from 41 countries,” Abdelmoneim noted. “Alongside him stands Dr Mazen Al-Rantisi, the 71-year-old family physician from Ramallah, known as the ‘doctor of the poor,’ arrested in June 2026 in a pre-dawn raid on his home. In addition, our long-time Médecins Sans Frontières colleague, Dr Mohammed Hassan Ali Obeid, a respected 43-year-old Palestinian orthopedic surgeon and father of three children, has been detained under the Unlawful Combatant Law in Israel for more than 600 days without charges.”
“Healthcare workers are not targets,” wrote Abdelmoneim. “Either a white coat is worth protecting everywhere, or it is protected nowhere. The test is not simply whether we affirm these principles, but whether we uphold them when it matters most.”
Even if we accept DHS’ framing of Belgal as a dangerous criminal, that is not a legitimate reason for a federal agent to shoot a civilian—let alone to fire indiscriminately at a car with a child on board.
The student struggle comes at a moment when France faces mounting pressure to cut public spending while dramatically increasing its military budget. Will France invest in its young people—or in missiles, weapons, and war?
Three years of impunity, of unprosecuted genocide, reveal that the value of human life is being measured on a sliding scale; that it is weighed based on race, geography, and political utility.
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