Palestinians have endured decades of violence, oppression, and breaches of International Humanitarian Law at the hands of Israel. Even before 7 October, 2023 saw the highest number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since the UN started keeping records.
For those in the Gaza Strip, 17 years of an ongoing illegal blockade, and four previous Israeli military offensives have made life extremely hard. But none of this compares to Israel’s latest assault on Gaza. More than 43,000 people, mainly women and children, have been killed, 90% of the population is internally displaced, 345,000 people are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, and more than 80% of Gaza is under Israeli-issued evacuation orders.
This has led to global condemnation, and accusations of war crimes from human rights advocates. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) found it ‘plausible that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide’, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials. But the world has failed to stop Israel’s genocide. On the contrary, most Western governments are supporting Israel’s actions, in one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns since the Second World War:
So what are Israel’s obligations to the people of Gaza, and how have these been violated?
Without International Humanitarian Law, war would become unrestrained violence
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) only applies during an armed conflict, or an occupation. It aims to protect civilians from the worst consequences of war, and is primarily based on the Geneva Conventions. These set of international treaties establish minimum protections, standards of humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect for individuals affected by armed conflict, but who are non-combatants. They apply the moment an armed conflict has begun.
Eitan Diamond, Manager and Senior Legal Expert, Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre in Jerusalem explained to the Canary that:
IHL seeks to reduce the suffering that is inevitably associated with war, by requiring the warring parties to abide by basic precepts of humanity, and by protecting those not, or no longer, participating in hostilities. Without IHL, and its related legal frameworks, war would become unrestrained violence.
The principles of International Humanitarian Law
There are three fundamental principles which govern International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and aim to limit the effects of armed conflict:
The principle of distinction prohibits indiscriminate attacks. Parties to an armed conflict must distinguish at all times between combatants and civilians, and military objectives and civilian objects. Civilian objects include houses, schools, hospitals, refugee shelters, markets, places of worship and cultural or historical monuments. Direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects are prohibited, as are those attacks which fail to discriminate between civilians and combatants.
Civilians only lose their protected status when, and only for such time as they are directly participating in hostilities. People who are no longer taking part in hostilities, such as captured combatants, and those who have been injured, or have surrendered, are protected, and violence, and degrading treatment of these people is prohibited. The use of weapons that do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and civilian objects and military targets are also prohibited under IHL.
The principle of proportionality limits potential harm to civilians, by demanding that the least amount of harm is caused to them, and when harm cannot be avoided, it needs to be proportional to the military advantage. Attacks on legitimate military objectives are still prohibited if they are expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, civilian harm, or damage to civilian objects which would be excessive in comparison to the expected military advantage.
The principle of precaution requires that all feasible precautions are taken, to minimize incidental loss of civilian life, civilian injury and damage to civilian objects during armed conflict. Careful planning and execution of attacks is essential, to limit the risk of unintended civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, and this includes verifying targets as military objectives, and giving effective warnings to the civilian population about safe and effective evacuation plans, before carrying out an attack.
It is also important to mention that violations of IHL, such as deliberately targeting civilians or imposing collective punishment, can never be justified by claiming another party has committed violations, or that there are power imbalances or other injustices.
‘Consistent violations’ of International Humanitarian Law
According to the UN, the Israeli military campaign in Gaza has ‘consistently violated’ International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
Not only does it fail to distinguish between civilians and combatants, dropping bombs on civilian objects such as residential buildings, refugee camps, schools and hospitals but it is also dropping bombs in one of the most crowded places on Earth. Under IHL, the means and methods of attack must be proportional to the threat, and must be chosen to avoid or minimise civilian deaths.
Oliver Sprague, Military, Security and Police Programme Director at Amnesty International UK, told the Canary:
In general, dropping high explosives in a densely populated area is very likely to cause unacceptable levels of civilian harm. So, even if super- precise bombs are used, it is inevitable a large number of civilians will be injured or killed. Even if bombs are used which do not have a wide area effect, and only a single building is the target, everyone in that building will be under the rubble, when the building comes down.
Several investigations into Israel’s use of US made MK-84 bombs have provided us with further evidence of Israel’s disregard for IHL. Weighing 2000lb (900kg), these bombs have a blast radius that can kill people 360m away from the point of detonation, and can cause severe injury. They damage building infrastructure up to 800m away, and can form craters 15m wide and more than 10m deep.
Since 7 October, last year, more than 14,000 of these have been sent by the US to Israel. One study reveals that during the first six weeks of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the military air-dropped these bombs, which are one of their biggest and most destructive, almost 600 times.
One-third were within dangerous proximity of hospitals across the Gaza Strip. 85% of all hospitals were found to be within 800m – the ‘damage and injury’ range- of at least one M-84 bomb detonation, and 25% were within 360m – the ‘lethal’ range:
Israeli forces systematically target ‘safe-zones’
During this same time period, the New York Times found that more than 200 of the 600 air-dropped MK-84 bombs were launched in areas Israel had designated as ‘safe zones’, and ‘posed a pervasive threat’ to civilians seeking safety.
Weapons experts believe these bombs were used to target sleeping Palestinians in the al- Mawasi ’encampment, home to tens of thousands of displaced people. ‘Safe zones’, such as al-Mawasi, have been systematically targeted by Israeli forces.
According to Sprague, Israel has many types of weapon at its disposal, and has long been at the forefront of using drones to enhance its military capability, including drone-mounted missiles, known as assassination missiles, especially designed to kill an individual in a car.
He noted that:
It’s likely Israel is adapting some of its large fleet of surveillance and targeting drones to fire small deadly assassination missiles, or using them to provide targeting data to call in other air or missile strikes. It is almost certain that these deadly high tech drones were used to attack the aid convoy vehicles that saw the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed, in a likely serious violation of international humanitarian law.
An investigation by +972 and Local Call, revealed that Israel also uses artificial intelligence (AI) systems in Gaza. ‘Lavender’ develops target lists and target areas for bombing, and was heavily relied on by the military, especially during the early stages of Israel’s offensive, clocking as many as 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants – and their homes – for possible air strikes. They were then tracked down and targeted at night, at home.
‘Where’s Daddy’, is another AI system used by Israel, to track individuals to their house, which is then bombed during the night. Although combatants can legally be killed any time, AI systems have inbuilt biases, and make ‘errors’, so the reliability of these target lists needs to be questioned. Also, by targeting these people in the middle of the night, in their homes, with no attempt to avoid civilian casualties, Israel is clearly violating International Humanitarian Law (IHL):
Evacuation orders- a tool for forced displacement
Parties to a conflict may order the displacement of civilians if they are exposed to danger as a result of fighting, but these evacuation orders must be minimized, must prioritise the protection of civilians, be effective and allow sufficient time for safety.
In Gaza, evacuation orders given by the Israeli forces have been a tool for forced displacement and are often accompanied by military attacks and siege. Nine out of every ten Palestinians have no home, and are struggling to find basic necessities. Evacuation orders given to hospitals, have severely threatened the lives of many sick and injured patients.
Jens Laerke, Geneva spokesperson with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the Canary:
In Gaza, repeated evacuation orders — now affecting 84% of the territory — have left civilians vulnerable to ongoing hostilities and deprived of access to essential services. Displaced families are enduring abysmal conditions, with severe shortages of food, water, sanitation, hygiene, and other basic necessities. International humanitarian law requires that civilians be protected, whether they choose to move or remain, and that they have access to the humanitarian aid they need.
Those who flee must be allowed to return as soon as circumstances allow. The United Nations does not and will not engage in such non-voluntary, ordered evacuations. We also do not endorse or participate in any unilaterally declared so-called safe zones – any genuine safe zone, as a start, requires agreement from all parties to the conflict. Even within the Israeli-designated ‘humanitarian zones’, we have witnessed repeated Israeli bombardments resulting in people being killed.
Israel has extra obligations, as occupier, to protect the population
Israel, as an occupying power, has added obligations under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), not only of protecting the population – it must provide basic health and safety supplies necessary to survive, but also of protecting the critical infrastructure – such as water and sanitation facilities, power stations and reservoirs, unless there is evidence sites are being used for military reasons.
Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid are severe, and threaten the lives of the whole population, especially in the North where, for the last month, the Israeli military is carrying out a ground offensive and imposing a siege. The area is also suffering from severe communications and internet disruptions:
The UN warns us the entire population risks dying from starvation, and calls for the ‘blatant disregard for basic humanity’ to stop. The North is now also without life-saving civil defence services, including firefighting, search and rescue, and emergency medical assistance, as the Palestinian Civil Defence (PCD) has been forced to stop work there. PCD staff have been detained and injured, and the last firefighting vehicle in North Gaza was hit and destroyed.
Last month, the amount of food entering the strip was the lowest of any month this year. More than 80% of Gaza’s population did not receive their monthly food ration. At the same time, about 100,000 tonnes of food commodities, equivalent to over two months of food rations for the whole population, continue to await entry outside the Strip.
The UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Martin Penner told the Canary this sharp fall of aid flowing into Gaza could have catastrophic consequences:
Food systems have collapsed and people are running out of ways to cope. The aid coming in is the only means of survival for thousands of families. It must be increased and sustained.
After a year of conflict and with winter approaching fast, the risk of famine is still looming in Gaza, according to the latest authoritative food security data. Experts point to ongoing fighting, high levels of displacement and low volumes of humanitarian aid entering the territory as the key factors.
Civilians intentionally deprived of essentials needed for survival
According to this latest data, over 1.8 million people across the Strip are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, including nearly 133,000 people facing catastrophic levels. Israel has intentionally impeded the delivery of humanitarian aid and relief supplies, and deprived civilians of essentials for life.
There is also a severe lack of medical supplies, fuel, and electricity, which has resulted from damage to critical infrastructure and the ongoing siege, and has severely affected those hospitals still able to function. Diseases is rife, and polio has reappeared in Gaza, after being eradicated 25 years ago. Civilians are paying an extremely high price for Israel’s military actions.
A doctor, who spoke to the Canary on condition of anonymity, summed up the situation for civilians in Gaza’s hospitals:
I have volunteered in several hospitals during the war, and I’ve seen things I can’t really describe- brain and spinal chord injuries, fractures, burns with all degrees, and a large number of amputations. From the beginning there has been an incredible lack of all types of resources, and I have had to stitch cut wounds without anaesthetic.
Lack of hygiene means a high risk of infections and disease, and there is a lot of gastroenteritis and bacterial skin infections. The hospitals aren’t large enough for the amount of patients coming in. We do CPR on the floor, patients receive aids on the floor, I have stitched wounds on the floor, and also people are sleeping there. Some families are fearful of many things, and also the bombing, and try to get protected by staying at the hospital, which they believe is a safe place. So there are also displaced people staying alongside the hospital as well as inside, who aren’t injured.
When a bombing or airstrike happens, the fear starts. A lot of patients are coming, so we have to be ready. For the chronically ill, and dehydrated and malnourished children, they are lost, literally lost in the hospital as all our focus is now on the injured. My message to the international community is that we need the borders to be opened, so the injured people, the children, the cancer patients can evacuate as soon as possible and get the right treatment. We need the war to end and peace in the whole world.
Israel flouting hospital protections under International Human Law
Medical personnel and facilities have special protection under International Humanitarian Law, whilst also having the general protections applied to civilians and civilian objects. Any targeted attack on healthcare facilities is a violation of international humanitarian law and if this is intentional, is undertaken without advance warning, is a disproportionate response to an identified military threat, or is due to negligence stemming from misidentifying the facility as a military target, this can then constitute a war crime.
Hospitals only lose protection from attack if used to commit ‘acts harmful to the enemy’ but, even then, a warning must be issued to cease this misuse, a reasonable time limit must be set for it to end, and only if the warning goes unheeded is an attack lawfully allowed.
Israel has sought to justify the killing of medical personnel and the destruction of Gaza’s health care system by claiming over 85% of major medical facilities in the Gaza Strip have been used by Hamas for ‘terror operations’, and claim Hamas tunnels, weapons stores and even command centres are to be found underneath hospitals.
Hamas denies these claims, and so do medical staff working in these facilities. Even though the burden of proof is on Israel, there has never been any credible evidence by the Israeli authorities to confirm this about the hospitals, or other civilian objects in the Gaza Strip:
UN: “‘Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system”
Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on Gaza’s health care system, the vast majority through military force. The attacks have been widespread and systematic, have killed many hundreds of people, and injured many hundreds more.
According to the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, ‘Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination’. It also says there are suggestions of the ‘existence of operational plans and procedures for attacking health- care facilities’ in Gaza’.
Medical personnel, patients and facilities have been deliberately targeted through sniper fire, raids and air strikes, which have caused widespread damage and multiple casualties, and hundreds of staff, including Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers have been arrested, detained or killed. Medical convoys have been attacked, and ambulances systematically denied access to those in need.
Triestino Mariniello, a member of the legal team representing Palestinian victims before the ICC, and Professor of Law at Liverpool John Moore’s University, told the Canary:
It is crucial, under IHL, to put all this into context. When this military operation started, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared a total war on Gaza. A total siege- no water, no food, no fuel, no electricity. This is itself a violation of International Humanitarian Law, and it’s a war crime. That’s why the ICC prosecutor is asking for arrest warrants also for starvation and extermination, as a crime against humanity.
The destruction of infrastructure that is essential for the survival of the population, is one of the measures imposed by Israel to plausibly destroy Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This destruction, together with the destruction of the health care system, together with the possible transfer of two million people, in a context where there is no safe area, these are exactly those plausibly genocidal acts put in place, not for military purposes but put in place to destroy Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Generally it is very difficult to prove that a genocide has been committed, in particular to prove so called genocidal intent. In this case there has never been so much evidence, and this evidence has been provided by Israeli military and political leaders themselves. There are hundreds and hundreds of genocidal statements, provided by these people. This has been discussed in the Hague, at the International Court of Justice, and shows genocidal intent- which is crucial.
Ethnic cleansing and forced displacement is part of a wider plan by Israel
There are fears the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement in the North signals the beginning of implementation of the General’s Plan, and the rebuilding of Israeli settlements in Gaza. First proposed by former Israeli Defence force (IDF) General, Giora Eiland, this plan would force Palestinians to flee Northern Gaza.
Those who do not leave would be labelled as combatants, and killed. All humanitarian supplies would also be blocked from entering. This plan would lay the groundwork for the resettlement of Gaza, an idea gathering momentum in Israel.
Since its creation, in 1948, Israel has enjoyed a climate of impunity, provided by the international community, for its serious violations of IHL throughout Palestine. Only effective accountability can stop Israel acting as though it is above the law but, as yet, there has been none.
Palestinians have been seeking to hold Israel accountable for its crimes since 2009. But it was not until 2021 that the former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor decided to open an investigation – into war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip in 2014, during the Great March of Return in 2018, and around its illegal settlement policy:
War criminals perpetrating genocide
In May this year, ICC Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, believing there is reasonable grounds they are responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
But, after 15 years, no effective measures have been taken by the court, and still no arrest warrants have been issued. This worries Mariniello. He told the Canary:
This delay is particularly concerning, not only because we are talking about a context characterised by impunity, but also because of the gravity of the situation in Gaza, and the unfolding genocide taking place. Since the prosecutor’s request, almost 7000 people have been killed, 100,000 people have been forcibly displaced.
There is an ongoing total siege in Gaza, particularly in the Northern part, where almost half a million people are now being subjected to forcible transfer- and forcible transfer is a war crime under the Rome Statute, and forced displacement is a crime against humanity.
So, with all the evidence concerning war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide – which are crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, it’s particularly concerning that the decision on the arrest warrants is delayed. As legal representatives of the victims, we have clearly told the chamber that justice delayed is justice denied, in a context in which there is no time. Every day means hundreds of people killed.
In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) warned of a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and issued provisional measures, which are binding under International Law. This means, in addition to action required from Israel, all states have a legal obligation, not political discretion, to adopt all possible measures to prevent the risk of genocide, starting with a comprehensive arms embargo.
Yet Israel continues violating these measures ordered by the court, and the US, the UK and other European states, continue exporting weapons to Israel, in clear violation of the ICJ decision- meaning they are complicit in facilitating acts of plausible genocide in the Gaza Strip. The political will of states to implement the court’s decision is missing, and this needs to change, for several reasons.
Credibility of International Humanitarian Law undermined by double standards
According to Mariniello, double standards mean that while states have shown urgency and mobilisation of resources towards Ukraine, to enable the court to act without delay, the same states – who say they support human rights, obstruct the investigation when it comes to Palestine. Mariniello argued that:
It’s an exceptionalism that arises because powerful countries are involved. It was the same exceptionalism when the court decided not to investigate-on two occasions, British alleged war crimes in Iraq, or US alleged widely documented war crimes in Aghanistan.
This is the most documented situation in the world for the Commission of International crimes, and Mariniello believes if the court surrenders to political pressures and threats by powerful countries, if justice is not provided, and arrest warrants not issued, it will have a huge impact on the legitimacy and credibility, not just of the ICC, but of the entire international legal system.
In addition, it will be a denial of justice, not just for legal representatives such as himself, but also for Palestinian civil society and the Palestinian victims whom he is representing. Israel’s justice system is not impartial or independent when it comes to crimes committed against Palestinians, so the ICC is their only hope of justice.
Featured image via the WFP/Ali Jadallah and additional images via the WFP/Ali Jadallah and OCHA
