International Law and the Conflict in Gaza

• Published in: Israel journal of foreign affairs 2023-09, Vol.17 (3), p.260-264
• Main Author: Sabel, Robbie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arab Israeli relations; Citizen participation; Civilians; Conflict; Corpses; Dismissal; Holocaust; Holocaust survivors; Hospitals; Hostages; Infants; Infrastructure; International law; Jurists; Killing; Military bases; Military hospitals; Military personnel; Mutilation; Neighborhoods; Older people; People with disabilities; Presidents; Rape; Rockets; Sex crimes; Torture; Weapons; World War II
• ISSN: 2373-9770; 2373-9789
• DOI: 10.1080/23739770.2023.2289272

Winston Churchill’s six-volume history of World War II contains, as far as I can recall, no reference to problems of international law. Churchill’s lengthy wartime correspondence with President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not involve the interpretation of the laws of military conflict. Apparently, when countries are engaged in critical battles, consulting law professors or jurists is not always a top priority.It can legitimately be asked, therefore, whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza should be subject to such a legal examination. The question is even more relevant given that one party to the conflict, Hamas, blatantly ignores every norm of international law, deliberately killing civilians, taking hostages, putting military installations in hospitals, and using Palestinian civilians as human shields. The behavior of that party includes the slaughter in cold blood of over 1,200 Israelis and foreign citizens and the wounding of over 5,500; widespread acts of torture and maiming, burning alive, beheading, rape and sexual assault, and mutilation of corpses; the abduction of at least 247 hostages including infants, the elderly, entire families, persons with disabilities, and Holocaust survivors; and the indiscriminate firing of thousands of rockets into Israel. Hamas’s military infrastructure, command, personnel, communications, and weapons are deliberately located within residential, commercial, and other civilian buildings, including specially protected sites—for the most part in the densest sections of Gaza. Hamas purposefully conceals some of its most valuable and extensive military bases and assets in and underneath hospitals, including the largest one in Gaza, Al-Shifa. Hamas prepared and initiated the October 7 attacks from within civilian neighborhoods adjacent to Israeli territory and used them as a base from which to continue raids into Israel in the following days.