Palestinian victims sue German government for 'aiding genocide' in Gaza

Victims of months of Israeli attacks on Gaza are filing a criminal complaint against top German government officials for supporting Israel’s war crimes and "genocide" against Palestinians.

"We're filing a criminal complaint against German government officials for the crime of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza by providing Israel with weapons and issuing related export permissions," lawyers for the Gaza victims told a press conference in Berlin on Friday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, and Economy Minister Robert Habeck all stand accused of "complicity in the genocide in Gaza" by supporting Israel’s military offensive and authorising the export of $350 million worth of weapons to Israel.

Nadija Samour, one of the lawyers who filed the criminal complaint with federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe, southwestern Germany, said: "Our governments in Europe have a legal obligation not to provide Israel any support in perpetrating the current genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This has to stop and this is what we hope to achieve by going to court. This lawsuit sends a clear message to German officials: you cannot continue to remain accomplices of such crime without consequences. We want accountability."

Samour said German law requires a ground for initial suspicion to start investigations on a potential crime being committed.

Germany urged to fulfil obligations

"The International Court of Justice's interim ruling clearly showed that there is such ground for initial suspicion when it comes to the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza," she stressed, referring to a January 26 ruling ordering Israel's government to stop genocidal acts and take steps to ensure that civilians in Gaza get humanitarian assistance.

"Following that ruling, Germany, like other third states, has a clear obligation to prevent genocide and German state officials should use their leverage and employ all lawful means at their disposal to influence Israel to refrain from genocidal acts," Samour also said.

The legal initiative by German lawyers was supported by the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) civil society group, as well as the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) and Law for Palestine under the Justice and Accountability for Palestine Initiative.

The German government remains one of the strongest supporters of Israel's military offensive, despite growing international outcry over the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Chancellor Scholz has repeatedly vowed to maintain Berlin's political and military support for Israel.

Israel has pounded Gaza since an October 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The ensuing Israeli war has killed more than 29,500 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Nearly 70,000 people have been injured.