Experts warn that countries feeding Israel's war machine on Gaza may be complicit in war crimes

A new study suggests that the Israeli tanks, planes and bulldozers that are pounding Gaza and destroying homes in the occupied West Bank are being fueled by a growing number of countries that are signatories to the Genocide and Geneva Conventions, which legal experts warn could make them complicit in serious crimes against the Palestinian people.

According to a report by the British newspaper The Guardian, four American fuel tankers used primarily for military aircraft have been shipped to Israel since the start of its air strikes on Gaza in October.

Three shipments departed from Texas after the International Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling on January 26 ordering Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza. The ruling reminded states that under the Genocide Convention they have a “common interest in ensuring the prevention, suppression and punishment of genocide.”

Overall, nearly 80% of the jet fuel, diesel and other refined petroleum products supplied by the US to Israel over the past nine months were shipped after the January ruling, according to a new study by the non-profit Oil Change International shared exclusively with the Guardian.

The study notes that a handful of countries—Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Gabon, Nigeria, Brazil, and most recently the Republic of the Congo and Italy—have supplied Israel with about 4.1 million tons of crude oil, nearly half of which has been shipped since the ICJ ruling.

An estimated two-thirds of the crude oil came from investor-owned oil companies and private firms, according to the research, which Israel refines for domestic, industrial and military uses.

Israel relies heavily on imports of crude oil and refined petroleum to power its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles and operations, as well as the bulldozers involved in bulldozing Palestinian homes and olive groves to make way for illegal Israeli settlements.

In response to the new findings, UN experts and other international law experts called for an energy embargo to prevent further human rights violations against the Palestinian people – and an investigation into any oil or fuel shipped to Israel that has been used to aid alleged acts of genocide and other serious international crimes.

In early August, a tanker delivered an estimated 300,000 barrels of U.S. jet fuel to Israel after being unable to dock in Spain or Gibraltar amid growing protests and warnings from international legal experts, the report said. Days later, more than 50 groups wrote to the Greek government demanding a war crimes investigation after satellite images showed the ship in Greek waters.

“Companies supplying Israel with jet fuel and oil may be providing material support to the military, knowing its likely harmful effects, and thus risk complicity in war crimes, genocide and other crimes under international law,” said Dr Irene Pietropoli, a senior fellow in business and human rights at the British Institute of International Law.

OCI analysis suggests that six major international fossil fuel companies — BP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies — may be tied to about 35% of the crude oil supplied to Israel since October. This is based on direct stakes in oil fields that supply Israel and/or the companies’ stakes in national production.