The 2025 Gaza conflict would still challenge the international law credibility and extend. Recent reports by the United Nations investigation agencies have shown serious violations of both state and non state actors. To support the fact, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) released a report that confirms that the Israeli authorities and security forces had perpetrated acts that met the legal criteria of genocide through the 1948 convent of the Genocide Convention. They are the murder of civilians, the commission of cruel mental and physical abuse, the intentional establishment of living conditions, and the specialized destruction of reproductive health institutions.
Another crime that was attributed to Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups was war crimes which included premeditated assaults on Israeli civilians. Nevertheless, the imbalance of power and magnitude of devastation itself also highlights the fact that state activities have caused the most significant proportion of civilian losses. COI statistics show that over 44,000 Palestinians have died since the intensification in 2024, with over 70 percent of those killed being women and children.
In early 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) deepened its efforts and deployed arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. They are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity associated with a methodical attack on civilian infrastructure in Gaza. At the same time, the leadership of Hamas has been indicted in organizing cross-border attacks. These are legal actions representing a fresh way of trying to be responsible but they are met with stiff political opposition.
Political Roadblocks Within International Institutions
Political inertia still hampers justice even with all the violations that have been well documented. The UN Security Council (UNSC) that is supposed to keep the peace and impose legal responsibility is paralyzed. The United States has also stopped several resolutions that have demanded independent investigations and arms embargo on Israel in the guise of a threat to the security of an ally. This pattern of veto authority has made the Council useless as one of the most effective humanitarian emergencies of the decade.
Some of the member states have turned to other mechanisms like the Uniting for Peace resolution where the General Assembly is entitled to propose joint actions in case the security council is not taking any action. Nonetheless, the resolutions do not have the power to enforce. The targeted sanctions or embargo programs by regional blocks such as the European Union face the same structural weakness since the political discord in the region about the matter remains divided.
The inability to perform its duties has resulted in observers claiming that the credibility of the UN as a guarantor of international law is weakening. In April 2025, former UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese commented that due to the inability to enforce the law, international law has become a mere ritual. Humanitarian consequences are still being felt and almost all hospitals and schools in Gaza have been either blown up or rendered useless by the constant bombardment and the blockade situation.
Civilian Suffering And The Humanitarian Impact Of Impunity
Gaza is a place where civilians are held under the conditions of a catastrophe due to systematically organized collective punishment. The imposed blockade since the end of 2024 has practically severed access to food supply, medicine, fuel and clean water. UN agencies also report that the famine situation is spreading throughout all of northern Gaza, with hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants on the verge of acute malnutrition. The denial of access to medical services and destruction of health facilities has been reported by the World Health Organization to be a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
The COI described the siege as genocidal because according to them, the deprivation of the civilians implies the deliberate extermination strategies. These findings have been strengthened by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International who have reported cases of starving policies and intentional assaults against humanitarian convoys. Such groups have further added that third parties states especially the ones that provide arms or intelligence have the possibility of being held legally accountable to failure to aid and abet war crimes.
Impunity of perpetrators enriches the plight of civilians. Any lack of accountability breeds perpetration of violence. It is estimated that by 2025, Gaza will still have more than 2 million internally displaced people living in makeshift shelters, with little or no access to aid. Satellite images prove that now almost 90 percent of Gaza infrastructure is destroyed or ruined, and the area is on the verge of falling to the ground.
Challenges Of Enforcement And The Role Of Political Will
The main problem is in how the findings of the law can be converted into action. Although the use of warrants by ICC is a historic moment, the Court cannot do anything without the cooperation of states. The warrants are mostly symbolic because Israel has categorically denied the ICC jurisdiction in the war- the allies of Israel, especially the United States and the United Kingdom have been in support of this move. International law does not give universal jurisdiction and thus the neutral states are not able to intervene or to arrest those who are indicted.
The Diplomatic Dimension
The use of diplomacy has taken over the role of law enforcement. The governments of the West still insist on temporary ceasefires and humanitarian corridors but do not want to be on the side of punitive actions. The regional actors such as Turkey and South Africa have demanded sanctions and arms shipments against the world but the agreement is still not reached. In March 2025, the African Union approved the inquiry by the ICC and this demonstrates the increasing annoyance of Global South countries with the perceived Western hypocrisy about implementing international norms.
Domestic Legal Initiatives
Many states in Europe have started citing universal jurisdiction to put on trial war crimes associated with Gaza. In Spain and Germany, the prosecutors have opened cases against the dual nationals who are in the Israeli military. These domestic campaigns, however small in size, suggest that international responsibility can be more and more reliant on devolved judicial activism but not on institutions.
Civil Society And Documentation Efforts
NGOs and academic institutions are starting to document and create digital records regarding the grassroots which might be used in court in the future. The University of Leiden supported the project Gaza Archive 2025 which has gathered more than 500,000 proven media entries on strikes, civilian deaths, and damage to infrastructure. This can be used as evidence in later trials as well as a response to disinformation.
The Broader Implications For International Law
The Gaza war is one of the tests of the international justice system of the first order. The disconnect between the codified and the political law shows how feeble the legal order of the post-World War II era was. According to legal experts, failure by the international community to take decisive action concerning Gaza will mean that the international community is actually destroying the very basis of humanitarian law which the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute put into place.
The situation also signals a shift in the global power balance within multilateral institutions. As the Global South pushes for accountability and reforms to the Security Council’s veto structure, traditional Western dominance faces increasing scrutiny. The question is no longer just about Gaza, it concerns whether international law can withstand political manipulation and remain a credible arbiter of justice in modern conflicts.
The struggle over Gaza’s legal and moral accountability captures the essence of today’s global crisis of governance. The extensive evidence of atrocities contrasts sharply with the paralysis of enforcement, revealing how international law’s power ultimately rests on political will rather than legal principle. As Gaza’s ruins testify to this dissonance, the world faces a defining question: can justice exist without power, or will power forever dictate the boundaries of justice? The answer may determine not only the fate of Gaza but the future legitimacy of international law itself.