The current killings, hostage-taking, bombings and large-scale civilian deaths rest on a complex and shocking history of repeated tragedies. The lens of international law can provide an element of clarity. Weller and Dahlan’s article covers the application of the laws of armed conflict, self-defence, humanitarian law, protection of civilians, requirement for proportionality and policy of seige. They look at the rules governing the conduct of both Hamas and Israel.
The authors write: ‘Civilian casualties must remain incidental. Where civilian casualties cannot be avoided beyond a certain scale, the operation must not take place. Moreover, it is impermissible simply to rule in a blanket way that certain types of civilian installations, like schools or hospitals, or other places where terrified civilians have congregated, are tainted by virtue of possible military use by Hamas, and attack them at the cost of hundreds of civilian lives.
‘There is no right for a state to balance the question of compliance with core rules of humanitarian law against its national security interests and to essentially suspend the former in deference to the latter.’
