"What’s urgently needed now is a UN-sponsored international criminal tribunal for Gaza, modelled on those in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. It should be empowered to examine all aspects of Israel’s and Hamas’s conduct of the war, especially their shared disregard for civilian lives and their killing, torture and mistreatment of hostages and detainees." Simon Tisdall in The Guardian

 The war in Gaza is supposed to be over. But be warned: without truth and justice, it will never truly end

Simon Tisdall

A fragile ceasefire is in place, but what’s needed is an international tribunal for resolution and reparation. That’s the only route to lasting peace

 

Donald Trump insists the war in Gaza is over. No, it isn’t. The violence is much reduced. Yet Israeli forces have reportedly killed about 100 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more since the 10 October ceasefire began. Food aid supplies are still heavily restricted. The occupation continues, in Gaza and the West Bank. US officials fear prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his accomplices may renege on the deal, as in the past.

Likewise, Hamas elements and rival gangs have kept fighting. The terrorist group is not disarming; Israeli forces have not fully withdrawn to the agreed lines. US-framed security, governance and reconstruction proposals remain vague, hypothetical and contentious. The war’s root causes, principally the denial of Palestinian sovereignty and statehood, are not addressed. Unless that changes, it will all kick off again, sooner or later.

Yet for the sake of argument, let’s pretend – and hope – that Trump is right, and sustainable peace somehow slowly emerges from Gaza’s ruins. What happens next? Justice is what must happen next. As in other “post-conflict” situations, the living and the dead in Israel and Palestine are owed a reckoning.

All who committed, or oversaw, war crimes on or after 7 October 2023 must answer for their actions. Lest we forget, there are multitudes of victims, on both sides, whose suffering cries out for recognition, resolution and reparation. If only to reduce the risk of resumed warfare, it’s imperative that there be accountability and an end to impunity.

Genocide must never go unpunished. How extraordinary, then, that Trump’s “historic”, supposedly Middle East-transforming 20-point peace plan makes no mention of, and offers no path towards, any sort of official, postwar public investigatory process. Senior European, Arab and UK politicians are silent on this issue, too, apparently keen to draw a veil over the shaming events of the past two years.

One explanation is that, in different ways, their governments were complicit. Another is that the war exposed their lack of influence – and a societally damaging failure, exploited by Netanyahu and some Jewish diaspora leaders, to distinguish between crude antisemitism and legitimate anti-Israel, anti-war sentiment... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/26/gaza-war-truth-justice-ceasefire-international-tribunal

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]