G7 leaders should commit to taking concrete actions to halt Israeli atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory at their upcoming summit, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to G7 leaders.
Leaders of the G7 will be gathering in Kananaskis, Alberta from June 15-17, 2025, for the Leaders' Summit hosted by Canada. The summit takes place in the context of ongoing hostilities and Israel's unlawful blockade of Gaza, where the world's foremost experts on food security warn that there's a high risk of imminent famine for the entire civilian population.
"The double standards of many G7 nations have, over many months, effectively given Israel a green light to escalate its destruction of Gaza and the killing, starvation, and forced displacement of its people," said Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch. "While some states have taken important steps to review bilateral agreements and sanction Israeli officials, much more significant action is needed to stop Israeli authorities from destroying the rest of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and ethnically cleansing the entire area."
Human Rights Watch has documented grave abuses by Israeli authorities and forces during the hostilities in Gaza and in the region, from war crimes, to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, including extermination and forcible displacement, and acts of genocide. Human Rights Watch has also documented Israeli authorities' crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians, and war crimes and crimes against humanity by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during and after the October 7 attacks.
Israeli authorities have also flouted three binding orders by the International Court of Justice to take steps to prevent genocide in a case brought by South Africa alleging that Israel is violating the Genocide Convention of 1948.
International Criminal Court (ICC) judges issued warrants of arrest for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, as well as for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (known as Mohammed Deif), commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing.
On May 30, the United Nations described Gaza as "one of the most obstructed aid operations, not only in the world today, but in recent history" and "the hungriest place on Earth." In the West Bank, Israeli forces have ratcheted up their repression, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians in the northern West Bank at a scale not seen there since 1967. Recent sanctions by states including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia against Israeli officials for their facilitation of settler violence represents an important step, but much more is needed.
In the letter addressed to G7 leaders, Human Rights Watch urged governments to use the summit as an opportunity to focus on concrete, time-bound measures to ensure their enforcement and to end decades of impunity for egregious violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. These measures include adopting further targeted sanctions against Israeli officials responsible for serious abuses; suspending all arms transfers to Israel; banning all trade and business with Israel's illegal settlements; review and consider suspending bilateral agreements with Israel; and unequivocally supporting the ICC.
"The G7 Summit risks becoming an exercise in empty rhetoric, unless leaders attending commit to concrete actions to stop Israel's atrocity crimes and hold those responsible to account," said Stagno.
