The Architecture of Complicity: Understanding Third State Responsibility in Gaza Genocide

IMAGE: UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, Oct. 22, 2025

According to a new report from Ms. Francesca Albanese, the  United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, the ongoing genocide in Gaza represents a collective crime, perpetuated by the complicity of powerful Third States that have allowed Israel to commit long-standing systemic violations of international law.The report, titled “Gaza Genocide: A collective crime”, was created by reviewing UN documents, which included the Secretary General’s report A/79/588 and 40 contributions from both State and non-State entities. A total of 63 states are referenced in the report.

DOCUMENT: A/80/492: “Gaza Genocide: a collective crime” – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. – Delivered to the UN General Assembly at the 80th Session – Advance unedited version (Source: OHCR)
Gaza Genocide- a collective crime

The concept of Third State responsibility in international law has never been more critical to understand than in this moment of profound crisis. When we speak of Third States, we refer to nations that are not direct parties to a conflict but whose actions or deliberate inactions materially contribute to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. The legal framework governing such responsibility is rooted in customary international law, the International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility, and specific treaty obligations that bind states to prevent and refrain from aiding serious breaches of peremptory norms.

The provision of military assistance to a state engaged in potential violations of international law creates a direct chain of responsibility. This is not merely an academic or theoretical concern; it is a matter of life and death for civilians caught in conflict zones. When Third States supply weapons, ammunition, intelligence, or logistical support to parties committing acts that may constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, they become legally and morally implicated in those acts. The International Court of Justice has consistently held that states have an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining situations created by serious breaches of peremptory norms of international law.

Material assistance takes many forms, each carrying its own weight of responsibility. The transfer of precision-guided munitions, fighter aircraft, and artillery systems directly enables the capacity to conduct military operations. When these weapons are used in densely populated civilian areas, resulting in mass casualties, the supplying state cannot claim ignorance or distance from the consequences. Intelligence sharing, including satellite imagery, communications intercepts, and targeting data, makes the Third State an active participant in military decision-making processes. Financial assistance, whether through direct aid, loan guarantees, or preferential trade arrangements, frees up resources that can be redirected toward military operations.

The legal doctrine of complicity in international law requires both knowledge and substantial contribution. Third States cannot hide behind claims of ignorance when violations are documented in real-time, broadcast across global media, and detailed in reports by international organizations, human rights groups, and United Nations bodies. The “live-streamed” nature of contemporary conflict removes any plausible deniability. 

When governments continue to provide support despite overwhelming evidence of violations, they cross the threshold from passive observation to active complicity…

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Syma Mohammed reports for Middle East Eye…

Israel’s genocide in Gaza impossible without global complicity, UN report says

Report shows how 63 states, largely European, sustained the genocide against Palestinians while Arab states failed to take ‘decisive action’

A new United Nations report reveals that more than 60 countries are complicit in the “collective crime” of enabling Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

An advanced version of the report by UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, was made available on Monday.

In her second report this year, Albanese called the genocide:

“a “collective crime, sustained by the complicity of influential Third States that have enabled longstanding systemic violations of international law by Israel”. “Framed by colonial narratives that dehumanize the Palestinians, this livestreamed atrocity has been facilitated through Third States’ direct support, material aid, diplomatic protection and, in some cases, active participation.”

The report shows that without the support of mostly European countries, Israel would not have been able to sustain its full-pronged assault on Gaza.

She categorised the support into four main categories: diplomatic, military, economic and humanitarian.

No ‘decisive action’ from Arab states 

Albanese argues that diplomatic immunity for Israel and failure to hold it to account for violating international laws, particularly in the West, has allowed it to continue its genocide with impunity.

The report says this took place through western media and political discourse, which “parroted Israeli narratives” and failed to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians, and drew on colonial tropes of Israel’s right to defend itself as a “civilised” nation against “savages”.

Albanese highlighted that the US used its UN Security Council veto power seven times to control ceasefire negotiations and provide diplomatic cover for the genocide. But she notes that the US did not act alone. It was helped by abstentions and delays, as well as watered-down draft resolutions from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.

All of these actions helped stymy concrete actions while creating “an illusion of progress”.

While she noted that Arab and Muslim states support the Palestinian cause, they failed to take “decisive action” and some regional players “facilitated land routes to Israel, bypassing the Red Sea”. Egypt continued to maintain relations with Israel, including energy cooperation and closing the Rafah crossing.

She highlighted notable failures with regard to international courts, including the fact that most western countries failed to support South Africa or Nicaragua before the ICJ and continue to deny that Israel has committed genocide, as well as uphold the ICJ’s ruling on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

In addition, her report says that most Western countries have undermined the arrest warrants the ICC issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the government. Instead, the US has imposed sanctions on the ICC, and the UK has threatened to pull its funding.

Unfettered military support

Despite UN resolutions calling for arms embargoes on Israel since 1976, the report notes that many countries supplied it with military support and arms transfers throughout its genocide, and described the US, Germany, and Italy as “among the largest suppliers”.

The US currently guarantees $3.3bn per year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and, until 2028, an additional $500m per year for missile defence.

She highlighted the key role that the UK has played in military cooperation with Israel and reported on more than 600 surveillance flights over Israel and intelligence-sharing with its government, which she said suggests “cooperation in the destruction of Gaza”.

Albanese said 26 states sent at least 10 consignments of “arms and ammunition” – the most frequent being China (including Taiwan), India, Italy, Austria, Spain, Czechia, Romania, and France.

She said 19 countries, 17 of which have ratified the Arms Trade Treaty, were complicit in supplying components and parts for the “F-35 stealth strike fighter programme” that was key to the military assault in Gaza. These include Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. Some of these countries continue to supply parts.

While the Arms Trade Treaty does not recognise a distinction between “defensive” or “non-lethal” arms sales, some countries used these terms to justify arms trade to Israel.

Some countries, such as Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, and Morocco, permitted the transfer of weapons through their ports and airports.

She noted that Spain and Slovenia had cancelled contracts and imposed embargoes.

Other states continued to buy weapons and military technology produced by Israel, which the report says has been tested on Palestinians under occupation. Exports to the EU more than doubled during Israel’s war on Gaza and accounted for 54 percent of Israeli military exports in 2024. Exports to Asia and the Pacific and Arab countries under the Abraham Accords made up 23 and 12 percent of exports, respectively.

In addition, the report states that thousands of US, Russian, French, Ukrainian, and British citizens who have served in the Israeli military have enjoyed immunity and have failed to be investigated or prosecuted for war crimes in Gaza.

Economic ties and aid

The report [emphasised] that states’ maintenance of normal trade relations with Israel “legitimizes and sustains the Israeli apartheid regime”.

While Israel’s international trade in goods and services decreased from 61 percent of its GDP in 2022 to 54 percent in 2024, Albanese noted the European Union (Israel’s largest trading partner) continued to provide almost a third of total trade to Israel for the last two years.

Some European countries increased their trade with Israel during the genocide against the Palestinians, such as Germany, Poland, Greece, Italy, Denmark, France, and Serbia.

Arab countries, such as the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, also increased their trade. Only Turkey suspended trade with Israel in May 2024, although Albanese reported some trade continued indirectly.

Albanese said that before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, most Palestinians were dependent on aid, with the United Nations relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) providing the bedrock of that aid.

Albanese pointed out that when Israel alleged Unrwa staff were involved in the Hamas-led attacks without citing evidence, 18 states immediately suspended funding without investigating Israel’s claims.

Despite inconclusive investigations, most donors took months to resume contributions to Unwra. The US, its largest donor, passed a law prohibiting US funding to Unwra. When the Israeli Knesset outlawed UNRWA, only a few states took action by seeking an ICJ Advisory Opinion.

The report accuses countries like Canada, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, and Jordan of being distracted from the key issue by parachuting aid in, a move she says was both dangerous and ineffective.

Albanese, who has been one of the most vocal and forceful critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza throughout its two-year genocide, said that complicit states perpetuate:

“colonial and racial-capitalist practices that should have long been consigned to history”. “Even as the genocidal violence became visible, States, mostly Western ones, have provided, and continue to provide, Israel with military, diplomatic, economic and ideological support, even as it weaponized famine and humanitarian aid,” she said, adding:

“The horrors of the past two years are not an aberration, but the culmination of a long history of complicity.”

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Source: https://21stcenturywire.com/2025/10/24/the-architecture-of-complicity-understanding-third-state-responsibility-in-gaza-genocide/