Strict rules govern combatants’ conduct but parties often test their enforceability.
After Hamas killed more than 1,300 civilians and soldiers and took dozens of hostages in its weekend assault, Israel has bombarded Gaza. It has cut off water and fuel and told the strip’s northern residents to evacuate. Palestinian authorities say more than 1,500 people in Gaza have died.
One important principle is that laws on war crimes do not take account of political causes, including occupations. The pursuit of a liberation struggle such as that declared by Palestinian groups is not regarded as a legal justification for the intentional or indiscriminate killing of civilians. The response to an attack must be proportionate. It should be focused on militarily defeating its armed opponents, rather than collective punishment of a wider group of people for casualties inflicted.
The rules become more complicated if a warring party has taken over a civilian installation as a military site. The use of civilians as human shields for combatants is forbidden. Israel accuses Hamas of doing this, which the Palestinian group denies. The Geneva Convention’s 1977 additional protocols prohibit the use of starvation as a weapon of war. It is forbidden to “attack, destroy, remove or render useless . . . objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population”. These include “foodstuffs, agricultural areas . . . drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works”.
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