War on Gaza: Dozens more relatives displaced, injured, killed since Palestinians filed suit against Biden
Several Palestinians living in Gaza and the United States have submitted new filings to the US District Court for Northern California, sharing grim details of the further death and displacement of their loved ones since they filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for failing to prevent a genocide in Gaza.
Since filing the lawsuit in November, the five Palestinian plaintiffs have had more members of their families either killed, injured, or displaced as a result of Israel's military campaign in the besieged enclave. The plaintiffs' relatives are struggling to find basic daily necessities, while some are being faced with potential starvation.
Laila El-Haddad, a Palestinian American author originally from Gaza City, said that since the complaint was filed, "things have gotten far worse for my relatives".
Haddad's paternal uncle and his family were forced to leave Gaza City in the north, down to Rafah in the south, becoming internally displaced for the fourth time. And two of Haddad's cousins who currently remain in Gaza City have not been able to leave to find food or clean water because their home is surrounded by Israeli tanks.
"They are just barely surviving," Haddad said.
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Basim Elkarra, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Sacramento chapter, said in his briefing that he lost over 70 of his relatives in Israel's military assault on Gaza.
Omar al-Najjar, who is currently in Gaza with limited internet access, said that since 16 November, several members of his extended family have been killed, including several young girls who were "pulled from the rubble, already dead".
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Najjar has also been working at Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah since 5 December, where he says he is seeing a vast number of children with severe dehydration and infectious diseases.
"I have never seen these levels of malnutrition, especially amongst children that I'm seeing now," he said.
Palestinians 'feeling hopeless'
The war in Gaza began on 7 October, when Hamas led an attack from Gaza on southern Israel that caught the country's military off guard, killing 1,200 Israelis and other nationals, according to the Israeli government death toll. At least 240 people were also taken hostage. While some have been released, more than 100 are still being held in Gaza.
Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas, and launched an aerial bombardment followed by a ground invasion of Gaza that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, the majority of them being women and children, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In November, the Palestinian individuals filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, accusing the US of failing to "prevent an unfolding genocide" against the Palestinian people amid Israel's assault on Gaza. The complaint seeks to halt further diplomatic and military support to Israel.
Legal experts, UN officials and more than 800 scholars have warned that Israel is potentially committing genocide against Palestinians.
The legal filing, submitted with the help of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), named US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin in the lawsuit.
The Biden administration responded to the lawsuit on 8 December, filing a motion for the lawsuit to be dismissed because the suit would override the foreign policy decisions of the US government, and therefore would be "in violation of the constitutional separation of powers".
Rights groups and lawyers say the Biden administration's response is an attempt to evade legal responsibility and culpability, in what many scholars say is an act of genocide taking place in Gaza.
The latest filing from the Palestinian plaintiffs came on the same day that the UN Security Council voted on a watered-down resolution on Gaza which called for steps to create the conditions for a ceasefire. The measure, which went through several delays and changes to avoid a US veto, ultimately passed. But Washington still did not vote in favour of the measure and opted instead to abstain.
'The US is not even trying to pretend that it cares about Palestinians'
- Laila El-Haddad
The US has maintained steadfast support for Israel's war on Gaza, and Biden has refused to support any calls for a ceasefire despite growing demand among the US public, as well as inside Washington for a halt to the war.
The Palestinian plaintiffs said in November that the lawsuit was a last-resort attempt at trying to stop US support for the war. Since then, many have shared in their new briefings that they are losing hope, as the death toll in Gaza has nearly doubled since the complaint was filed.
"Earlier on during the course of this genocide I had some hope, I kept saying that someone at some point will do something to stop this, and now I only see apocalyptic scenarios, I only see death and destruction," Haddad said in her update to the court.
"The US is not even trying to pretend that it cares about Palestinians. What I am seeing is beyond complicity, our officials are being Israeli spokespeople. That's how I feel when I watch Blinken speak."
Still, the CCR, which is assisting the Palestinians in the lawsuit, said that the lawsuit is continuing to gain traction and US courts can hold the government accountable for its support of the war and the deaths of civilians.
The CCR also shared that the lawsuit has included a new declaration of support from Josh Paul, the senior US State Department official who resigned days after the war in Gaza began, citing Washington's rushed and unchecked support for Israel's war efforts.
“Israel is killing Palestinian children in Gaza – more than 8,000 so far – and is starving the rest, including our clients’ families, as Biden, Blinken, and Austin rush more weapons and block international efforts to stop them,” Maria LaHood, CCR's deputy legal director, said in a statement shared with Middle East Eye.
“While the world watches in horror, feeling powerless, the court has the power, and the duty, to enforce the laws put in place to stop genocide and complicity in it. The rule of law, and our very humanity, depend on it.”
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