What remains of the international order? For more than 500 days, Israel, enabled by powerful nations providing diplomatic cover, military hardware, and political support, has systematically violated international law in Gaza. This complicity has dealt a devastating blow to the integrity of the United Nations Charter and its foundational principles of human rights, sovereign equality, and the prohibition of genocide. A system that permits the killing of an estimated 61,000 people is not merely failing—it has failed.

The evidence, livestreamed to our phones and assessed by the world’s top courts, is unequivocal. From the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories to the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israel’s top leaders to the preliminary measures issued in the Genocide Convention case brought by South Africa, Israel’s actions constitute clear violations of international law.

Yet, despite these rulings, the violations persist, enabled by nations that brazenly challenge the world’s top courts—with sanctions on officials, employees, and agents of the ICC and open defiance of the court’s orders.

The recent proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to “take over” Gaza—meaning annexation followed by ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population, who Trump has suggested should be deported to Egypt and Jordan—strikes at the very foundations of international law, which the global community has a duty to defend. Such actions, if pursued, would constitute a grave violation of international law and the fundamental principles enshrined in the U.N. Charter.

The assault against the Palestinian people echoes dark chapters in our own countries’ histories—South Africa under apartheid, Colombia during counterinsurgency, and Malaysia under colonial rule. These struggles remind us that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We may hail from different continents, but we share the conviction that complacency is complicity in such crimes. The defense of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is a collective responsibility.

In September 2024, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a historic resolution outlining states’ legal obligations to ensure the end of Israel’s illegal occupation, with an overwhelming majority of 124 nations voting in favor, emphasizing the imperative of “ensuring accountability for all violations of international law in order to end impunity, ensure justice, deter future violations, protect civilians and promote peace.”

That is why, alongside Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, and Namibia, we have launched the Hague Group, a coalition committed to taking decisive, coordinated action in pursuit of accountability for Israel’s crimes.

The Hague Group’s three inaugural commitments are driven by twin imperatives: the end of impunity and the defense of humanity.

Our governments will comply with the warrants issued by the ICC against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, emphasizing appropriate, fair, and independent investigations and prosecutions at the national or international level; we will prevent vessels carrying military supplies to Israel from using our ports; and we will prevent all arms transfers that risk enabling further violations of humanitarian law.

In an interconnected world, the mechanisms of injustice are found in the fabric of global supply chains. Advanced weaponry cannot be built without metals, components, technology, and logistics networks that span continents. By coordinating our policies, we aim to build a bulwark to defend international law.

The aim of these efforts is not to undermine multilateralism; it is to salvage it. Just as the international community once united to dismantle apartheid in South Africa—through similarly coordinated legal, economic, and diplomatic pressure—we must now unite to enforce international law and protect the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The alternative is surrender to a world where might alone determines which laws matter and which others can be violated at will.

The recent cessation of hostilities, exchange of hostages, and return of displaced Palestinian families are welcome steps toward a peaceful resolution of this unbearable catastrophe. However, the cease-fire has already proved fragile, and our collective responsibility to ensure a lasting peace is now burningly urgent.

The international system cannot endure if it is undermined by those who wield vetoes and sanctions to shield allies from scrutiny or use aid and trade as tools of coercion. The threat of punishment is intended to force countries to retreat to a language of pleas. We cannot remain passive and be forced to publish “calls” and “demands” while the principles of justice that underpin our international order are destroyed.

We believe in protagonism, not supplication. The choice is stark: Either we act together to enforce international law or we risk its collapse. We choose to act, not only for the people of Gaza but for the future of a world where justice prevails over impunity.

Let this moment mark the beginning of a renewed commitment to internationalism and the principles that bind us as a global community.

Cyril Ramaphosa is the president of South Africa.

Anwar Ibrahim is the prime minister of Malaysia.

Gustavo Petro is the president of Colombia.

Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla is the general coordinator of Progressive International and acting chair of the Hague Group.

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