Gaza Tribunal Urges UN to Authorize Armed Protection Force for Palestinians

At a press conference held in Istanbul, members of the Gaza Tribunal called for the United Nations General Assembly to act immediately — to send an armed international force to protect Gaza’s exhausted and displaced population from what they described as a “continuing genocide.” The initiative, formed by international jurists, human rights experts, and scholars, warned that without decisive intervention, Gaza’s people may soon face a point of no return.

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A Cry for Action Beyond Politics

Richard Falk, former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Palestine and current head of the Gaza Tribunal, stood before reporters with visible frustration.
He said what many feel but few in power dare to say: Western liberal democracies have become complicit — through silence, inaction, and the ongoing sale of weapons that sustain Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

“The law has failed because it has not been enforced,” Falk said quietly, echoing a line that has since become the Tribunal’s moral anchor.
He explained that the statement released by the Gaza Tribunal calls for a UN General Assembly mandate — one that bypasses the Security Council’s paralysis, avoids veto deadlocks, and accelerates international protection for civilians.

According to Falk, the Tribunal’s strategy rests on legal and historical precedent: the Uniting for Peace resolution of 1950, which allowed the UN to act when the Security Council was blocked — and which was used effectively during the Korean War and later during the Suez Crisis of 1956. That mechanism, Falk said, “represents not only the UN’s ability to respond when great powers disagree, but its moral duty to act when humanity is under threat.”

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The Gaza Tribunal: A People’s Court of Conscience

The Gaza Tribunal was established in London in 2024 as a non-governmental initiative — part legal review, part moral reckoning. Its purpose is to mobilize international opinion, hold governments accountable, and pressure world bodies to end the suffering in Gaza.

The Tribunal’s board includes some of the most respected voices in international human rights law:
former UN rapporteurs Michael Lynk and Hilal Elver, alongside academics Noura Erakat, Susan Akram, Ahmet Koroglu, John Reynolds, Diana Buttu, Cemil Aydin, and Penny Green.

Each of them has contributed to the growing body of Gaza Tribunal Evidence — documentation of Human rights violations in Gaza, Crimes Against Humanity, and the deliberate Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure.

Falk explained that the Tribunal is not a court in the traditional sense, but a “Jury of Conscience.”
Its power lies in moral truth — the kind that cannot be vetoed.

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“If the World Waits Any Longer, It Will Be Too Late”

In Gaza, nearly two years of war have left more than 60,000 dead, the majority women and children.
Entire neighborhoods have turned to dust; hospitals function without electricity; and humanitarian corridors remain blocked. Falk said the Tribunal is “deeply alarmed that without radical action, it will be too late to save the Palestinian people of Gaza.” The upcoming General Assembly session in New York this September, he noted, will be a crucial test — not just for governments, but for humanity itself.
“The conscience of the world must awaken,” he said. “We urge citizens everywhere to demand embargoes, sanctions, and solidarity with Gaza’s struggle for basic rights.”

The Tribunal also plans to hold a final session in Istanbul at the end of October, where its Jury of Conscience will deliver a final moral verdict.
The decision, Falk hinted, “will not be gentle.”

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Beyond Legal Language: A Battle for Truth

The Tribunal’s growing network of lawyers, journalists, and documentarians continues to compile evidence through Forensic Investigations, Civilian Impact Reports, and Social Media Evidence. Their goal is not just to preserve facts, but to protect the truth itself — against censorship, propaganda, and political distortion.

Many of the testimonies have been archived in the Digital Evidence Archive, forming a permanent record of Gaza’s ongoing catastrophe — from targeted journalists to hospitals reduced to rubble.

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“The Law Must Belong to the People”

What the Gaza Tribunal ultimately demands is more than intervention; it demands transformation.
Falk summarized it simply:
“The law must belong to the people — not to power.” That belief drives the Tribunal’s push for an international protection force, one that operates under the UN’s moral obligation to defend those who cannot defend themselves.
In the Tribunal’s view, neutrality in the face of genocide is not diplomacy — it is betrayal.

And as Gaza’s skies burn red again, the message grows louder:
Justice delayed is justice denied.

From Istanbul to London, from Gaza’s Missing to Stories of Survival, the cry is the same —
the world must act, not tomorrow, but now.