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A Brussels-based human rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Chile seeking the investigation and prosecution of an Israeli-Ukrainian former military sniper accused of participating in the deadly siege and destruction of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
The Hind Rajab Foundation filed the complaint on February 16 before the 8th Guarantee Court in Santiago, targeting Rom Kovtun, a sniper in the 424th "Shaked" Battalion of the Givati Brigade, under Chilean Law 20.357, which criminalises genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in line with the Rome Statute. The foundation takes its name from a five-year-old Palestinian girl who died in January 2024 when IDF troops opened fire on the car she was travelling in with six family members and two paramedics who had come to rescue them. The complaint in Chile was submitted by lawyer Pablo Andrés Araya Zacarías.
Kovtun's own prolific social media activity proved his undoing. Posts on Instagram, reported by Al Jazeera, showed him on holiday at a lake in southern Chile in the company of other former Israeli soldiers, alerting the foundation to his whereabouts and enabling the legal filing. His presence in Chile is central to the case, as universal jurisdiction – the legal principle under which courts may try individuals for serious international crimes committed in other countries – requires the accused to be physically on Chilean soil. Chilean authorities believe Kovtun remains in the country. The foundation also cited Israel's refusal to prosecute its own military personnel as a further basis for the filing.
According to the complaint, Kovtun participated in the siege and assault on al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical facility, between March and April 2024. The World Health Organisation said at least 21 patients died during attacks on the hospital, while the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry put the toll considerably higher. Witnesses and survivors alleged that Israeli forces executed civilians during the operation, including children, and that medical staff were abducted and tortured. Hundreds of Palestinian bodies were discovered outside the hospital following the Israeli military withdrawal, some of whom appeared to have been executed, with hands tied and evidence of torture on their remains. The Israel Defence Forces denied the allegations.
The foundation alleges that Kovtun helped encircle the hospital compound, took up sniper positions surrounding the facility and contributed to circumstances in which civilians were unable to evacuate and were cut off from food, water and medical supplies.
"The targeting and destruction of a functioning hospital during a military siege strike at the core of international humanitarian law," said Dyab Abou Jahjah, the foundation's general director. "When evidence indicates that a sniper participated in such an operation, domestic courts cannot look away. Universal jurisdiction exists to ensure that the most serious crimes do not go unexamined simply because they were committed abroad."
Natacha Bracq, the foundation's head of litigation, argued that the operation went beyond collateral damage. "The encirclement and destruction of a functioning medical complex, combined with the deprivation of food, water and medical care, are not collateral damage – they constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide," she said.
Araya told Al Jazeera the legal basis for the filing was clear. "This applies when it's clear that the person accused of these crimes will not be tried in his or her country of origin," he said, adding that soldiers who had committed atrocities in Gaza would not face prosecution under the current Israeli government.
Chile's embrace of universal jurisdiction has deep historical roots. The 1998 arrest in London of former military dictator Augusto Pinochet, based on a warrant issued by a Spanish judge, prompted the South American nation to develop a robust domestic legal framework for prosecuting grave international crimes. The country is also home to one of the world's largest communities of Palestinian descent outside the Arab world, though observers note the case will turn entirely on its legal merits rather than public sentiment.
The filing forms part of a broader strategy by the foundation, which has pursued legal action against alleged IDF war criminals across multiple jurisdictions. In October 2024, it filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court against 1,000 IDF personnel accused of crimes in Gaza. Peru separately opened a formal probe last year into an Israeli national accused of participation in the Gaza conflict. No prosecutions have resulted from the foundation's complaints to date.
The case arrives at a moment of sharp political transition in Chile. The outgoing leftist government of President Gabriel Boric has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel's conduct in Gaza, recalling Chile's ambassador to Tel Aviv shortly after the Israeli onslaught triggered by Hamas’ October 2023 terror attacks and calling Israel's military campaign a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian civilian population. Boric has publicly described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal. His administration also moved to exclude Israel from Chile's International Air and Space Fair and advanced legislation to ban imports from Israeli-occupied territories.
That posture is set to change dramatically when President-elect José Antonio Kast takes office on March 11. The far-right politician, who won December's runoff election with 58% of the vote, has been a vocal supporter of Israel and lashed out at Boric's Middle East policy throughout his campaign, vowing to reverse what he dismissed as diplomatic "whims". Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar congratulated Kast by telephone after his victory and said both sides had agreed to restore bilateral ties. Analysts caution, however, that the prosecution of Kovtun would fall under the jurisdiction of independent Chilean courts rather than the executive branch, limiting the incoming administration's ability to directly influence proceedings.
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