Peru opens investigation against Israeli soldier who participated in the Gaza massacre

The Hind Rajab Human Rights Foundation announced that the Republic of Peru has opened a formal criminal investigation against an Israeli soldier accused of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The organization filed a legal complaint—enclosed with documented audio and video evidence—accusing the soldier, who served in the Israeli army's combat engineering corps, of direct participation in the destruction of civilian neighborhoods in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza between 2023 and 2024.

"Rather than serving as a support unit, the Engineering Corps has served as the primary operational arm of destruction, systematically reducing civilian areas to rubble, razing entire communities, and rendering vast swaths of Gaza uninhabitable," the organization said in a statement.

Hind Rajab is a non-profit organization founded in 2024 and headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. It was named in honor of Hind Rajab, the Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, along with six members of her family and two paramedics who attempted to reach and rescue her.

The foundation's chairman, Diab Abu Jahjah, commented on the move, saying it was not merely symbolic, but rather the beginning of genuine legal accountability. He added that justice is not an option, but a duty.

In its statement, the foundation considered Peru's initiation of a formal investigation into the evidence it had presented a significant development for international justice, affirming the importance of exercising universal jurisdiction, rather than merely recognizing it, when those responsible for international crimes are found within a state's territory.

This legal complaint is one of dozens of cases filed against IDF Combat Engineers, focusing on their role in carrying out Israel's genocidal campaign against the Palestinian population in Gaza.

The Hind Rajab Foundation concluded its statement by calling on all states—particularly those parties to the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute—to follow Peru's example by initiating legal proceedings against individuals implicated in the genocide in Gaza, who may fall within their international jurisdiction.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocidal crimes in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 176,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands displaced.