of the government of Israel, such as, for example, the statement made on 12 October
2023 by the then Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of Israel, Israel Katz, on his X
account, which read : "The line has been crossed. We will fight the terrorist organization
Ha mas and destroy it. All the civi lian population in Gaza is ordered to leave immediately.
We will win . They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the
world."
37. The Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied
Palestinian Territory of 27 May 2024 includes information on the order signed by
Minister Katz on 7 October 2023 to cut all electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip, followed
by the cutting off of all water supply from Mekorot through the three connection
pipelines to the Gaza Strip, as well as the complete halt, between 8 October and 14
November, of any fuel entering the territory. According to the International
Commission's report, "The impact of these measures on the availability of electricity and
water was immediate. By 14 October, the three water desalination plants, which had
previously produced 21 million liters of drinking water a day, were reported to have
halted operations due to the lack of electricity and fuel. Israel's cutting of water supply
immediately affected more than 650,000 people. The Gaza Power Plant ceased
operation on 11 October after fuel transportation through the Kerem Shalom Crossing
was stopped."33
38. Finally, a number of acts not provided for explicitly in Article II may ultimately result
in genocidal acts. Thus, for example, although forced displacement of persons does not
in and of itself amount to a listed underlying act of genocide, it may, depending on the
facts, lead to the underlying acts of genocide set out in Article ll(b)34 and Article ll(c)35 of
the Genocide Convention. Similarly, under current conventional and customary
33 Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
including East Jerusalem, and Israel: Advance Unedited Version (A/HRC/56/26), United Nations, 27 May
2024, p. 11 para. 51.
34 In relation to Article ll(b), ICTY noted that "forced displacement may - depending on the circumstances
of the case - inflict serious mental harm, by causing grave and long-term disadvantage to a person's
ability to lead a normal and constructive life so as to contribute or tend to contribute to the destruction
of the group as a whole or a part thereof." (ICTY, Prosecutor v. Tolimir {Case No. IT-05-88/2-A), Appeal
Judgment of 8 April 2015, p. 86 para. 209). Similarly, in Prosecutor v. Karodzic the ICTY Trial Chamber held
that "while forcible t ransfer does not of itself constitute an act of genocide, depending on the
circumsta nces of a given case, it may cause such serious bodily or ment al harm as to constitute an act of
genocide under Article 4(2)(b)" (ICTY, Prosecutor v. Karodzic (Case No. /T-95-5/18-T}, 24 March 2016 para.
545).
35 In relation to Article ll(c), the Court has held that deliberate infliction on the group of conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, covers methods of physical
destruction, other than killi ng, whereby the perpetrator ultimately seeks the death of t he members of the
group, such as via their expulsion from their homes (Application of the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide {Croatia v. Serbia), Judgment, I. C.J. Reports 2015, p. 71 para. 161.
See also ICTR, Prosecutor v. Akayesu {Case No. ICTR-96-4-T), Judgment of 2 September 1998, para. 506).
Importantly, the opportunity to destroy a protected group is not based solely on the immediate effects
of a perpetrator's acts. A perpetrator may allow some group members to flee, but if those members are
subsequently subjected to conditions of life calculated to bring about their physica l destruction, these
acts may fall within the scope of Article ll(c) of the Genocide Convention.
11
Declaration of Intervention of Spain