Messina, Italy – Stacks of court papers, written in English and Arabic, filled his desk and covered the floor of Triestino Mariniello's home office in Messina for much of March. Messina is a city in southern Italy overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the smoking volcano Etna on the other.
Here, far from the war, a team of lawyers from Gaza's Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCGR), to which Mariniello works, last month worked on an attempt to prosecute Israel for genocide.
“It may seem impossible these days, but I thought it would be a good idea to try to be more productive in a place where I can actually separate myself from constant fear,” Mariniello told Al Jazeera. Ta. “We also saw this as an opportunity for our colleagues from Gaza to take a breather after what they have been through.”
The PCHR legal team (which includes criminal prosecutor Mr. Mariniello and Italian professor of international criminal law at the University of Milan, Chantal Meloni) is led by the center's director, Raji Soulani, a Palestinian lawyer from the Gaza Strip. They plan to file a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“I have two wonderful Italian colleagues,” Soulani told Al Jazeera with a tired smile, still surprised to have arrived in Sicily, a place that reminded him of home.
Soulani is one of the few Palestinians who left Gaza with his family and crossed into Egypt in late February after nearly dying in an Israeli air raid.
Mariniello invited him to his hometown of Messina to break the ice and work on the case.
“For years, we have been documenting the horrors experienced by families in Gaza. Through this professional collaboration, very real friendships have been born,” Mariniello said.
The PCHR team represents victims of war in Gaza.
Mr. Mariniello and Mr. Soulani have worked together since 2020 on cases dating back to the 2014 blockade, 2018 border protests, and the 2021 crisis that involved rocket firing from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes. They collected thousands of testimonies from grieving families whose relatives were killed by Israeli forces.
“All of these previous testimonies prove that it did not begin on October 7th, that it was a more systematic invasion that needs to be addressed through appropriate legal means.” said Mariniello, referring to the day the current Gaza war began. “Through our work, we want to give humanity to people who have been dehumanized. Some of the victims we represent in The Hague were born to their uncles and cousins when they were six years old. Hind Rajab, who was also killed in the car, and Noor Nasser Abu Al Noor, one of our fellow lawyers, are also there.”
Abu al-Nur was a PCHR lawyer who was killed in an Israeli attack on the center in February.
Another colleague, 26-year-old Dana Yagi, died in the attack two days later.
“What we are witnessing is unprecedented. And what's even more worrying is that the people documenting the horror are also dying, and the evidence of what's happening is being erased.” said Soulani. “The world simply watches as Israel goes beyond human rights law. That is why we felt the need to accelerate the legal fight. Besides food and security, there are other things that Gaza lacks. One thing is time.”
After submitting papers to the International Criminal Court for a preliminary hearing in 2021 but failing to obtain a resolution for more than two years, the PCHR team instead decided to proceed through the ICJ, the UN's highest court, which recently issued a warning to Israel. We decided to proceed. Warning about the plausible risk of genocide in Gaza.
After relentless work in February and March, the lawyers believe they have amassed enough evidence to charge Israel with genocide and will soon head to The Hague.
Mariniello said Israeli forces are “interfering with the flow of life in Gaza, from disrupting births and targeting hospitals and maternity wards, to blocking vital humanitarian aid at the border and committing genocide.” Ta.
Israel's onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 33,000 people, including about 14,000 children, began on October 7, when Hamas, which rules the strip, attacked southern Israel. The attack killed 1,139 people and captured hundreds of Israelis.
Soulani considers himself a genocide survivor. He said during his time in Messina he realized that much of the world was on the side of the Palestinians, even in unexpected places.
In Sicily, the defense team spent a lot of time investigating the case. But they also took part in public discussions with local residents.
About 300 people gathered at the Salone delle Bandiere conference center in downtown Messina to hear experts speak about steps Italians can take to support Gaza and the legal battle.
Mariniello emphasized how individuals play an important role in supporting the work of MPs, despite being widely misunderstood. “It was because of ordinary people that apartheid ended in South Africa.'' Without the support of the people, one lawsuit cannot change the course of history,'' he said during his speech.
Carmelo Chite, 65, who was in the audience, told Al Jazeera: “Since the conflict began in October this year, I feel that there is much more curiosity and interest in Italy and other parts of the world than before.
“The public is finally starting to understand, knowing that Italy's mainstream media is controlling the coverage and genuinely trying to support legal causes. And that's a positive thing, because this time it's I hope it will lead to change.”
The Italian government supports Israel and sends weapons, but in recent months has condemned the scale of attacks against Palestinian civilians.
Soulani said he was surprised to find a “very supportive crowd to have a frank discussion.”
Sicily helped improve the quality of legal discussions before traveling to the Netherlands, he added.
“Looking at Mount Etna reminded me of the people back home. Like the volcano, we will never calm down until we achieve justice.”
