On Monday, Saudi Arabia issued a warning to Israel not to attack Rafah, describing it as a “bloody and systematic” operation meant to drive Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it is a clear breach of international law and human rights norms to intentionally target civilian areas like Rafah. Despite the nation’s history of violating human rights, Saudi Arabia presided over the G20 in 2020. However, the Covid-19 epidemic compelled organizers to move G20 gatherings, including as the leaders’ conference, online.
Saudi Arabia’s warning
The Israeli army gave orders early on Monday for over 100,000 Palestinians to start leaving the southern city of Rafah. This complicated efforts to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza and suggested that a long-promised ground invasion may be on the horizon. Israel’s closest friends have cautioned against the impending operation on the city, where more than a million Palestinians are seeking sanctuary and a significant death toll is anticipated. In 2020, the Saudi government persisted in suppressing independent clerics, human rights advocates, and dissidents. Several well-known women’s rights advocates who were arrested in 2018 among them Loujain al-Hathloul, Mayaa al-Zahrani, Samar Badawi, Nouf Abdulaziz, and Nassima al-Sadah remained incarcerated during their trial for their campaigning on behalf of women’s rights.
Denouncement of Israeli ‘war machine’
Calling for an end to “these massacres and their violation of international law and international humanitarian law without deterrence,” Riyadh reaffirmed its unequivocal condemnation of Israel’s ongoing flagrant breaches of all international agreements. Saudi Arabia denounced Israel for its activities, which it said were aggravating the humanitarian catastrophe and impeding international peace efforts. Calls to immediately end what it described as the “occupation forces’ genocide against defenseless civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories” were reiterated by the Saudi Foreign Ministry. Capital cases involving captives on allegations pertaining to nonviolent activity and dissent persisted. By November, prominent cleric Salman al-Awda was on trial for capital charges related to his alleged membership in the Muslim Brotherhood and public support for imprisoned dissidents; Hassan Farhan al-Maliki was facing ambiguous charges related to his expression of peaceful religious ideas.
Diplomatic efforts
Much diplomatic pressure is being applied to Israel to accept a three-phase truce that Hamas has unexpectedly agreed to, even though Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, seems determined to move ahead with an attack in Rafah. Although the plan that Hamas accepted was “far from Israel’s essential demands,” Netanyahu’s administration announced that it would still send negotiators to continue working toward a settlement. Simultaneously, the Israeli military declared that it was carrying out “targeted strikes” against Hamas in the eastern region of Rafah. The US Department of State said that no credible plans for such military action had been shown to US officials as Israel ordered 100,000 people to evacuate the east of the city, adding to the already strong calls for Israel to abandon its planned full-scale offensive on Rafah, in southern Gaza.
Regional implications
One of the first international leaders to demand that Israel recognize the truce was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey. Speaking on Monday night during a cabinet meeting, he encouraged Western nations to put more pressure on Israel’s leadership to agree. “We are pleased to hear that Hamas has agreed to the cease-fire based on our recommendation. Israel now needs to follow suit, stated Erdoğan.
France has already said that any attempt by Israel to forcefully uproot thousands of Palestinian inhabitants from their camps in Rafah, on the border between Egypt and Gaza, would constitute a war crime. Israel had announced that it was initiating a plan to remove 100,000 Palestinians from the city in advance of an invasion that it said would destroy the last Hamas battalions still in action. According to his spokesperson, UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed “deep concern over the indications that a large-scale military operation in Rafah may be imminent” and urged Hamas and Israel “to go above and beyond in order to bring about an agreement that will end the current suffering.”
Calls for de-escalation
Saudi Arabia’s national law is Sharia, or Islamic law. Although there isn’t a formal penal code, there are laws and regulations that the government has established that impose criminal penalties on a number of vaguely defined infractions. Judges and prosecutors, however, have the authority to punish individuals on a broad variety of offenses under catch-all accusations like “breaking allegiance with the ruler” or “trying to distort the reputation of the kingdom” in the lack of a documented criminal law or specifically specified rules.