LONDON: On Friday, pediatrician Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, one of a dwindling number of doctors still working in Gaza, left home as usual for another distressing shift in the war-battered Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis.

As she cared for babies and children who had been wounded in air attacks over the previous days, a missile struck her home, killing nine of her own ten children.

Their father, also a doctor, was badly injured in the attack. The couple鈥檚 only surviving child, an 11-year-old boy, was brought to his mother鈥檚 hospital, where his life was saved on the operating table.

That same day, more than 50 people, including many young members of a single family, were killed in Jabalia in the north of Gaza.

The poet and author Mosab Abu Toha, who earlier this month won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of essays in The New Yorker magazine, portraying the 鈥減hysical and emotional carnage in Gaza,鈥� happened to be near the scene.

His harrowing photograph of a dead girl, perhaps only two years old, with most of her head missing, has been viewed tens of thousands of times on X. The eyes of the medic tenderly carrying her body from the rubble of her home told their own story.

Incidents such as these, and the wider humanitarian emergency resulting from renewed violence and a weeks-long aid embargo, appear to have pushed many in the international community to consider the imposition of sanctions on Israel.

Last week, the EU, Israel鈥檚 biggest trading partner, announced it was reviewing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, in particular Article 2, which states that the relationship 鈥渟hall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.鈥�

Also last week, the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement condemning the situations in Gaza and the West Bank, denouncing 鈥渢he level of human suffering in Gaza鈥� as 鈥渋ntolerable.鈥� 

Warning that Israel was risking 鈥渂reaching international humanitarian law,鈥� it added: 鈥淲e will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions.鈥�

Then came the unprecedented threat: 鈥淚f Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.鈥�

In response to these calls for 鈥渃oncrete actions,鈥� Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering attack on the leaders of the UK, France and Canada, saying that they had 鈥渆ffectively said they want Hamas to remain in power.鈥�

He also accused them of siding with 鈥渕ass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers.鈥�

Israel began military operations in Gaza in retaliation for the unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which resulted in some 1,200 deaths, the majority of them civilians, and about 250 people being taken hostage.

Eighteen months on, at least 54,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials, while all but a handful of the hostages have been released or killed in the crossfire.

On Monday, at a summit in Madrid of European and Arab nations, including 萝莉视频, Spain鈥檚 foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares called for an arms embargo on Israel and sanctions against individuals 鈥渨ho want to ruin the two-state solution forever.鈥�

Speaking before the meeting, Albares said that humanitarian aid must enter Gaza 鈥渕assively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel,鈥� describing the Strip as humanity鈥檚 鈥渙pen wound.鈥�

鈥淪ilence in these moments is complicity in this massacre,鈥� he added.

萝莉视频 has long called on the US and other Western nations to freeze arms shipments to Israel in response to its restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into the embattled enclave.

Also on Monday, more than 800 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges in the UK signed an open letter expressing 鈥渙ur deep concern over the worsening catastrophe in the occupied Palestinian territory.鈥�

They urged the British government to meet its 鈥渇undamental international legal obligations 鈥� to take all reasonable steps within (its) power to prevent and punish genocide (and) to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.鈥�

Israel鈥檚 attacks 鈥渁re quite clearly and blatantly in disregard of international law, and are just becoming unacceptable,鈥� Guy Goodwin-Gill, emeritus professor of international refugee law at the University of Oxford and one of the letter鈥檚 signatories, told Arab News.

What happens next, he said, 鈥渄epends to a certain extent upon the willingness of other states to come to the party.鈥� 

The US seems unlikely to single out Israeli leaders for sanctions and would almost certainly veto any proposed action by the UN Security Council.

鈥淏ut I think the UK could impose financial and immigration sanctions, not only on Israeli ministers and officials suspected of involvement in the unlawful conduct but, in my personal view, it should consider imposing visas on all Israelis,鈥� Goodwin-Gill said.

鈥淕iven the extent of conscription in the country, all Israelis have been potentially involved in the actions of the military on the ground 鈥� the tank commanders, the soldiers, and the air force pilots in particular.

鈥淚 think they should be subject to a visa requirement, subject to inquiries about what they were doing during the war.鈥�

The Israeli government鈥檚 standard response to any criticism is to accuse its critics of antisemitism. The signatories nevertheless decided to speak out.

鈥淚 think there was an apprehension about being labeled antisemitic,鈥� Goodwin-Gill said.

鈥淏ut I think that is disappearing with the continuing violations of international humanitarian law that are going on and on, and in the face of evident desire on the part of some in the Israeli government to bring about the destruction of Gaza, the destruction of the aim of a two-state solution, and the end of the prospect of any self-determination for Palestinians.鈥�

In addition to the events in Gaza, 鈥渢he extent to which settlers are invading the West Bank and assaulting Palestinians, not only with the passive support of the Israel Defense Forces, but also being armed by them, is beginning to put people on notice that the label of 鈥榓ntisemitism鈥� is not going to stick this time.鈥�

It isn鈥檛 just the UK鈥檚 legal community that is breaking cover to openly criticize Israel鈥檚 actions. On Wednesday, 380 writers, musicians and organizations signed a letter accusing the Israeli government of genocide and calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

鈥淭he government of Israel has renewed its assault on Gaza with unrestrained brutality,鈥� the letter read.

鈥淧ublic statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir openly express genocidal intentions. The use of the words 鈥榞enocide鈥� or 鈥榓cts of genocide鈥� to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations.鈥�

On May 7, a statement signed by more than 30 UN human rights special rapporteurs and independent experts condemned what is happening in Gaza as 鈥渙ne of the most ostentatious and merciless manifestations of the desecration of human life and dignity.鈥�

They added: 鈥淲hile states debate terminology 鈥� is it or is it not genocide? 鈥� Israel continues its relentless destruction of life in Gaza, through attacks by land, air and sea, displacing and massacring the surviving population with impunity.

鈥淣o one is spared 鈥� not the children, persons with disabilities, nursing mothers, journalists, health professionals, aid workers, or hostages. Since breaking the ceasefire, Israel has killed hundreds of Palestinians, many daily 鈥� peaking on March 18, 2025, with 600 casualties in 24 hours, 400 of whom were children.鈥�

The signatories of Wednesday鈥檚 letter wrote: 鈥淲e refuse to be a public of bystander-approvers. This is not only about our common humanity and all human rights; this is about our moral fitness as the writers of our time, which diminishes with every day we refuse to speak out and denounce this crime.鈥�

The British government has not yet spelled out what 鈥渃oncrete actions鈥� it might take against the Israeli government.

So far it has imposed sanctions only on several settler leaders, accused of 鈥渆ngaging in, facilitating, inciting or providing support for activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment鈥� and who have 鈥渢hreatened and perpetrated acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals in the West Bank.鈥�

Several organizations 鈥渋nvolved in facilitating, inciting, promoting and providing logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts and forced displacement of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,鈥� have also been sanctioned.

In all cases the named individuals and organizations have been subjected to 鈥渁sset freeze, director disqualification sanction, and travel bans.鈥�

In reality, said Michael O鈥橩ane, senior partner at UK law firm Peters & Peters and co-founder of legal guidance website Global Sanctions, it is 鈥渧ery unlikely鈥� that any of those sanctioned so far actually have any assets in the UK, and 鈥渢hat is true of the vast majority of people who are sanctioned by the UK government.

鈥淚f you take Russia as an example, there are over 2,000 people on the sanctions list, and I suspect only a very small percentage of them have any assets in the UK.鈥�

Such sanctioning is, however, more than merely tokenistic.

鈥淭his is what鈥檚 called 鈥榮ignaling,鈥欌€� O鈥橩ane told Arab News. 鈥淭he government is saying: 鈥楤y sanctioning you, we are signaling to you and to the wider world that we consider your conduct to be unacceptable, a breach of international norms.鈥欌€�

However, there have been increasing calls for targeted financial sanctions to be imposed on members of Netanyahu鈥檚 government, in particular national security minister Ben-Givr and finance minister Smotrich.

鈥淚f things continue to go in the same direction in Gaza, I wouldn鈥檛 rule out the possibility of that happening,鈥� O鈥橩ane said.

There is also the possibility that the UK government could tighten restrictions on the export of arms to Israel.

In September last year the government suspended about 30 export licenses 鈥渇or items used in the current conflict in Gaza 鈥� following a review of Israel鈥檚 compliance with international humanitarian law.鈥�

However, more than 300 arms licenses remain unaffected. A case brought by the Palestinian rights organization Al-Haq, challenging the government鈥檚 decision to allow the export of components for F-35 fighter aircraft to continue, is under review in the UK鈥檚 High Court.

The government鈥檚 lawyers told the court this week that 鈥渘o evidence has been seen that Israel is deliberately targeting civilian women or children.鈥�

At the start of the case on May 13, Raza Husain KC, the lawyer acting for Al-Haq, told the court that, on the contrary, 鈥渁cts of annihilation have been accompanied by persistent genocidal, dehumanizing and even celebratory statements made at all levels of the Israeli military and political structure, including such figures, I regret to say, as the prime minister, president, minister of defense, minister of national security, and minister of finance.鈥�

Even if nothing comes of the threats by the EU, the UK and Canada to directly target Israeli ministers, the combined outrage at Israel鈥檚 behavior is creating political momentum behind a joint French-Saudi international conference that will open on June 17 at the UN in New York.

Anne-Claire Legendre, the French president鈥檚 adviser, told a preparatory meeting at the UN on May 23 that 鈥渇aced with facts on the ground, the prospect of a Palestinian state must be maintained.

鈥淚rreversible steps and concrete measures for its implementation are necessary. This is the purpose of the international conference to be held in June.鈥�