Palestine

Nina Lakhani, a climate justice reporter for the Guardian, reports on the fuel supply sent to Israel before and during the war on Gaza, drawing on a supply chain report by Oil Change International and additional analysis by Data Desk. To operate its fleet of fighter jets, tanks, and other military vehicles, Israel depends on crude oil and refined products, much of which originates in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil, Gabon, and the U.S., and is supplied by major companies including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies. While most ships en route to Israel turn off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals before arriving, Lakhani notes it is plausible that the last of three U.S. jet fuel tankers departed after the International Court of Justice ruled that the crime of genocide in Gaza is plausible. Reiterating the words of David Boyd, former UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment – who stated that countries and companies continuing to supply oil may be complicit in genocide – Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. Program Manager at Oil Change International, calls for the United States to be held accountable for its potential violations of international law. With the siege heavily impacting the population of Gaza, the deliberate targeting of water and sanitation infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and energy supplies further endangers civilians. Lakhani quotes a spokesperson from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, who emphasizes the need to expose the states and corporations named in the report. Israel, which has no operational cross-border fossil fuel pipelines, relies entirely on maritime oil imports – many from the United States. Lakhani highlights the hypocrisy of leaders like Brazilian President Ignácio Lula da Silva, who made statements of solidarity with Gaza but refused to ban oil shipments, many of which come from offshore platforms.