Pro-Palestinian NGOs sue Dutch gov't over Israel support
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Pro-Palestinian groups took the Dutch state to court Friday, urging a halt to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they termed a genocide in Gaza.
The NGOs argued that Israel is breaking international law in Gaza and the West Bank, invoking, amongst others, the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention set up in the wake of the Holocaust.
"Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid" and "is using Dutch weapons to wage war", said Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the NGOs.
Israel furiously denies accusations of genocide as it presses the offensive in Gaza it began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Opening the case at the court in The Hague, judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: "It is important to underline that the gravity of the situation in Gaza is not contested by the Dutch State, nor is the status of the West Bank."
"Today is about finding out what is legally in play and what can be expected of the State, if the State can be expected to do more, or act differently than it is currently acting," she added.
She acknowledged this was a "sensitive case", saying: "It's a whole legal debate."
The case comes one day after another court based in The Hague, the International Criminal Court, issued arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and former defence minister.
The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to suspect Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, whom Israel says it has killed. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
The ICC warrants drew a furious reaction from Netanyahu, who denounced it as anti-Semitic and the court's accusations "absurd and false".
Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said the death toll in more than 13 months of war since then has reached 44,056 people.
The majority of Gaza's dead are civilians, according to ministry figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.