UN human rights experts have urged countries and oil companies to cut supplies to Israel’s military, underscoring the devastating role of oil in fueling the raging genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, in a post on X on Saturday cited research from Oil Change International (OCI), which showed that three companies were supplying oil to the Israeli military through the United States, Brazil, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
Fakhri urged countries to immediately impose economic sanctions, and said countries supplying oil to the Israeli military are likely “complicit in Gaza genocide.”
He referred to the research saying that Israel receives regular shipments of oil via Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq, and Egypt. Paradoxically, all of these countries have condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“Countries should impose a weapon embargo and economic sanctions against Israel. Countries currently supplying weapons to Israel are complicit in genocide and starvation,” Fakhri said in an interview with the Press TV website last week.
The UN special rapporteur added that “Israel is also destroying the food system in Gaza” and “the only way” to prevent full-scale famine in Gaza “is to ensure humanitarian aid to enter without any restriction and for a permanent ceasefire.”
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, in another post supported Fakhri’s call and said “corporations should cease and desist or face potential liability tomorrow.”
Fully endorse this call. Corporations should cease and desist now or face potential liability tomorrow. https://t.co/LjYVchhV1Z
— UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing (@adequatehousing) March 16, 2024
The latest analysis by the OCI exposes how the global oil industry is complicit in fueling Israel’s war on Gaza as the Israeli regime relies on imported crude oil and refined products to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles.
According to the findings, the US is the Israeli military’s key direct source of imported jet fuel and the major oil companies facilitating the fuel supplies include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies.
Vessels transporting oil and fuel have been advised to deactivate their automatic identification system (AIS) signal prior to arriving in Israel, potentially due to security concerns.
The report also indicates that Palestinian groups and their allies are pushing for an energy embargo, demanding that governments and companies stop all fuel shipments to Israel until it puts an end to the genocide and apartheid regime against Palestinians.
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is specifically calling for a consumer boycott of Chevron-branded gas stations, saying that countries and oil and gas companies must be held accountable for their roles in perpetuating violence and human rights abuses.
12 Palestinians killed in Israeli bombing in Deir el-Balah
The calls to cut supplies to the Israeli military come as the regime in its latest move has killed 12 people and wounded many in the bombing of a house in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, near Al Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Wafa news agency reported that most of the victims were women and children as a number of victims are still under the rubble.
Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza has forced the local residents to flee toward the southern city of Rafah, as a key part of the military’s preparations for its invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has continued since the ICJ ordered the Israeli government to prevent any genocidal act. The ICJ ruling has legal implications for countries and corporations, which must ensure they are not complicit in genocidal acts.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 31,553 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 73,546 others injured since the Israeli regime launched its US-backed onslaught on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
