​Gaza and the West Bank: 150 French-speaking jurists appeal to respect for international law 

  In view of the ongoing atrocities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and the moral and political challenge they represent, it is important for the signatories of this forum, all French-speaking academics specializing in international law and/or international criminal law, to share their legal analysis of the situation and the eight essential findings on which they can rely. The order. 1. the The Israeli government has long been engaged in denying the rights of the Palestinian people, one of the last peoples under foreign domination to have ever been able to fully exercise its right to self-determination. The second. The attacks of 7 October 2023 constitute serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Such acts committed on Israeli territory are undeniably war crimes and crimes against humanity which no cause can justify. The third. In the face of such attacks from inside an occupied territory, Israel could not claim the right of legitimate defence within the meaning of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations but, as the International Court of Justice recalled in its advisory opinion of 9 July 1543 on the “Wall”, the Hebrew State retained “the right, and even the duty” to respond to such acts “in The European Union is committed to protecting the lives of its citizens.