Israel vs Palestine Conflict

[Discord]

Written by DeveloperNes

Assessment of Hamas

Hamas has repeatedly and deliberately attacked civilian areas in Israel. Its armed wings fired thousands of unguided rockets into Israeli towns (e.g. Sderot, Ashkelon) over the years. The Human Rights Watch notes these rockets "cannot be reliably aimed" and are inherently indiscriminate when launched into densely populated areas. Most rockets have killed or injured Israeli civilians. The October 7, 2023 assault by Hamas had attackers going into Israeli communities, executing civilians, and taking hostages, killing about 1,200 people (mostly noncombatants). Under international law and the Geneva convention, deliberately targeting civilians is absolutely forbidden.

Hamas fighters seized over 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers during the October 2023 attack. International law (Geneva IV) bans hostage taking, and jurists agree that these acts are war crimes. Human Rights Watch has found evidence of murder and mistreatment of some hostages. Hamas's mistreatment (reports of torture, rape, even killing of captives) is completely illegal under international law.

There is evidence that Hamas places military assets near/inside civilians and civilian buildings, effectively using its own population as shields. The Human Rights Watch documented many cases where rockets were launched from residential neighborhoods and even UN-run facilities. By not moving military targets away from civilian areas, Hamas violates its duty under international law to protect civilians. UN officials have said these tactics are a "double war crime" (targeting Israeli civilians and using Palestinian civilians as shields). In one UN report Israel's letter to the UN stated: "Hamas is committing a double war crime, first by using Palestinian civilians as human shields and second by intentionally targeting innocent [Israelis]…".

In both legal and moral terms, Hamas's actions are deeply wrong. International law says its rocket barrages on cities, use of human shields and its massacre/hostage campaign are blatant war crimes.

Assessment of Israel

Israel's actions can be partially viewed through the lens of a state defending itself against an armed attack. Under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Israel has a right to defend its citizens. However, international law still requires Israel to follow all restraints. In practice, Israel's military response has resulted in very high Palestinian civilian casualties. For example, The Human Rights Watch documented an Israeli airstrike (Oct 31, 2023) on a six-story Gaza apartment block that killed 106 civilians (54 children) and concluded that no apparent military target was present.

Israel has a strict blockade on Gaza and continues to occupy the West Bank and East Jerusalem. International law treats Gaza and the West Bank as "occupied Palestinian territory". As an occupier, Israel has duty to ensure civilians' well-being (food, medicine, and water), not to impose collective punishment, and not to transfer settlers into the land. Yet Israel's blockade has severely restricted essentials in Gaza. A UN fact-finding mission on the 2010 Gaza flotilla concluded that the blockade was "Inflicting disproportionate damage on the civilian population" and, given that one motive was to "punish the people of the Gaza Strip", amounted to collective punishment prohibited by Geneva IV. More recently, UN OCHA warned that Israel's "full cargo blockade" in 2024 halted nearly all flour distribution in Gaza, putting civilians at "renewed risk of hunger and malnutrition" according to CNN.

Israel says it issues warnings (leaflets, "roof knocking") before strikes and has sometimes evacuated civilians. However, civilian shelters became full or inaccessible, and many Palestinians could not safely move (especially given Israel also sealed Gaza's borders). The Human Rights Watch notes that giving some warning does not permit attacking civilians who remain nearby, forcing civilians from homes under threat can itself amount to a war crime.

Israel indisputably has a right to defend its population after Hamas's October 2023 massacre. However, many of its methods violate international law. The sheer scale of civilian suffering in Gaza including thousands of children killed shows Israel has little proper discrimination of civilian targets from military ones, even when Hamas is hiding among civilians.

Conclusion

Israel and Hamas both have little regard for civilian life, with Hamas especially putting Israeli and Palestinian civilians in constant life threatening danger. Overall, Hamas is doing by far the most damage to civilians and committing the most war crimes, often forcing Israel's hand to make them look bad in an international light. However this does not excuse Israel's war crimes. The aggressive and brutal nature of Israel's counterterrorism tactics combined with Hamas's straight up evil terrorism has led to one of the worst situations for civilians in the history of the modern world. I believe this can only be stopped by international intervention to adapt a new approach to counterterrorism. As well as the complete destruction of Hamas and it's ideals. Palestine will not be free until Israel and Hamas are in check.

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