Geneva –
The United Nations (UN) said Israel had committed “war crimes” through “collective punishment” against people in the Gaza Strip.
“The collective punishment carried out by Israel against Palestinian civilians is also a war crime, as is the forced evacuation of civilians in violation of the law,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Volker Turk, on Wednesday (08/11).
He also said Hamas had committed war crimes. More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Israel claims it has the right to defend itself and is trying to destroy the Palestinian militia group, Hamas. They have been carrying out air strikes on Gaza since Hamas killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages on October 7.
What is international humanitarian law?
The UN says the protection of civilians is a top priority in any conflict and no side is above the law. This is what is known as international humanitarian law (IHL).
“Violations committed by one party cannot be used as an excuse to excuse violations committed by another party,” said Tara Van Ho, a professor at the Essex Law School and Human Rights Center in the UK.
“Similarly, the power differential between Israel, the Palestinian government, and Hamas does not change the obligations of either party.”
The laws of war apply to all states and non-state actors (Getty Images)
What is the Geneva Convention?
The murder of six million Jews by the Nazis in Europe during the Second World War in 1939-1945 led to the expansion of these laws, as well as the founding of the United Nations.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions include four main principles:
Medical and hospital staff in war zones must be protected and allowed to work freely. Those injured in combat and no longer fighting have the right to medical care. Prisoners of war must be treated humanely. Parties to the conflict are obliged to protect civilians (including the prohibition of targeting civil infrastructure such as electricity and water supply).
More on the Israel-Hamas dispute:
Many people were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp, more than in any other Nazi concentration camp (Getty Images)
What is genocide?
The term was introduced by Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust. In 1948, the Genocide Convention was adopted by the UN.
“The key to genocide is that the perpetrators do not simply intend to kill individuals or members of military or armed groups, but they intend to actually destroy all or part of the group because of its identity,” said Dr. Van Ho.
“Demonstrating a specific intent to destroy makes genocide the most difficult international crime to prove.”
Genocide includes murder, prevention of births, and forced removal of children.
Rwanda’s Jean-Paul Akayesu was the first person to be found guilty of genocide, nearly 50 years after legislation against it was passed. (Getty Images)
The first person convicted of genocide was Rwandan citizen Jean-Paul Akayesu in 1998 at the UN-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
He was declared to have committed genocide for his role in the 1994 mass murder of Tutsis that left 800,000 people dead.
Two other cases have been tried in UN-backed tribunals, namely the massacre of the Cham and Vietnamese minorities by Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia in 1995 in Srebrenica.
What are crimes against humanity?
This involves targeting civilians where certain ethnic or racial groups are not prioritized, unlike genocide.
Crimes against humanity involve murder, deportation, slavery, sexual violence, apartheid, torture and enforced disappearances.
Background to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
“First, you have to distinguish between attacks that are truly targeted and target civilians and attacks that harm civilians but actually target someone taking part in the conflict or an object that is, or because of how it is used for military purposes,” he said Dr. Van Ho.
“Secondly, you have to have organization in the attack so that it is widespread or systematic and the people involved in it know that they are part of this attack.”
A UN fact-finding mission concluded that Myanmar’s military operations against the Rohingya amounted to “acts of genocide” (Getty Images)
What are war crimes?
An international or domestic armed conflict must occur for a war crime to be established.
“While there are a multitude of war crimes stemming from different treaties, the most common factor is that war crimes are acts that harm the people they are supposed to protect or harm the ability of humanitarian organizations to carry out their work properly,” said Dr Van Ho.
How are these crimes prosecuted?
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is part of the United Nations. A country can file a similar case against another country in this world court.
Currently the ICJ is investigating whether Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya people after forcing nearly one million people to flee in 2017 amid military repression. Gambia initiated this case.
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan (ICC)
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was created in 2002 to try individuals for these crimes. It is a court of last resort, which only intervenes when national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute.
The United States, China, Russia, India and Israel did not sign the agreement, although the Palestinian Authority joined in 2015.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan recently visited Egypt but was unable to enter Gaza. During a press conference, he conveyed this warning to the Israeli military.
“They need to demonstrate that any attacks affecting innocent civilians or protected objects must be carried out in accordance with the laws and customs of war,” he said.
“In relation to every dwelling house, in relation to any school, any hospital, any church, any mosque those places are protected, unless their protected status has been lost.”
“The burden of proving that protected status has been lost is on those who fired the weapons, missiles or rockets in question.”
Getty Images
Victims of Hamas attacks in Israel have also appealed to the ICC to launch an investigation, although their government opposes the trial.
Yael Vias Gvirsman is an international criminal lawyer and lecturer at Reichmann University, located near Tel Aviv. He represents the families of more than 40 victims who were killed, taken hostage, or disappeared.
He said crimes against humanity had been committed by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.
“Let the ICC fulfill its mandate for everyone,” he told the BBC.
“The victims deserve truth and justice.”
At least 240 people, including children and the elderly, are being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip (Getty Images)
Dr Van Ho said efforts to achieve accountability were never in vain, but he was also aware of the power dynamics that occurred.
“A significant obstacle for the ICC is that some of the information it requires is only available to states or armed groups, and they are unlikely to provide that information voluntarily,” he said.
Dr Van Ho also worries that it will be “an uphill battle to achieve accountability and justice when the countries concerned want to protect their own interests first.
“Sadly, we are witnessing civilians paying the price for those choices.”
(nvc/nvc)
2023-11-11 01:45:13
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