War crimes in the Israel–Hamas war
Since the start of the
On 29 December,
The International Criminal Court confirmed that its mandate to investigate alleged war crimes committed since June 2014 in the State of Palestine extends to the current conflict.[7][1][8] On May 20, 2024, the Chief Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against leaders of both sides of the conflict, including Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, and Israeli leaders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.[9][10][11] [12]
By Hamas and allied militant groups
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Hamas_gunmen_shooting_into_civilian_car_on_October_7_2023.png/220px-Hamas_gunmen_shooting_into_civilian_car_on_October_7_2023.png)
Determining the applicability of
On 9 October 2023 Human Rights Watch stated that Hamas's apparent targeting of civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and taking of hostages amounted to war crimes.[18]
On 10 October 2023 the OHCHR stated the taking of hostages and use of human shields were war crimes.[19] United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Türk noted that militant groups' "horrifying mass killings" were violations of international law.[20]
Massacres
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Gaza_envelope_after_coordinated_surprise_offensive_on_Israel%2C_October_2023_%28KBG_GPO03%29.jpg/220px-Gaza_envelope_after_coordinated_surprise_offensive_on_Israel%2C_October_2023_%28KBG_GPO03%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/101894_reeim_-_memorial_PikiWiki_Israel.jpg/220px-101894_reeim_-_memorial_PikiWiki_Israel.jpg)
On 12 October,
According to Ohlin, militant groups violated Article 7 if there was evidence the attacks had been part of an organized "plan or policy".
At the Re'im music festival massacre, Hamas militants massacred 270 civilians, methodically shooting fleeing and hiding attendees, as well as taking hostages, in the largest terror attack against a concert in history. Witnesses reported that some of the women were raped.[29][30][31][32]
At the Be'eri massacre, approximately 70 Hamas militants massacred at least 130 people, approximately 10% of the population of Be'eri, including women, children, and infants.[33] When inside the kibbutz they went house to house, shooting or capturing the residents.[34][35]
Hostage taking
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Nova_massacre_dashcam.jpg/220px-Nova_massacre_dashcam.jpg)
Hostage-taking is outlawed in non-international armed conflicts as per Article 1(b) of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law, and is recognized as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Hostage-taking is defined as detaining a person with threats to harm them to compel a third party to act or abstain from acting as a condition for the hostage's safety. Hostages can be civilians or individuals not actively partaking in hostilities, including surrendered or detained armed forces members.[36]
Human Rights Watch has stated that "Hamas and Islamic Jihad are committing war crimes by holding scores of Israelis and others as hostages in Gaza". They also added that "Civilians, including children, people with disabilities, and older people, should never be treated as bargaining chips", and "The armed groups should immediately and safely release all civilians detained".[37] The secretary-general of Amnesty International urged the immediate release of "all civilians who were abducted, including children", and supported an investigation into these incidents "as part of the International Criminal Court's ongoing investigation into crimes committed by all parties in the current conflict".[38]
During the Hamas attack approximately 200 people were taken hostage by militants.
Perfidy
Human shields
The Israel Defense Forces allege that Hamas uses civilians as human shields.[48][49] This allegation has received support from the UK, the US, Australia, and European Commission.[50] Al Jazeera notes, "Israel has, however, not provided concrete proof for its allegations."[51] The Israeli army further argued the militant groups' hostages were being used as human shields.[44] Human Rights Watch noted that using hostages, or any other person held in custody, as human shields is illegal.[36] On the counter side, Israeli Defense Forces have been accused of making no, or an inadequate distinction between Hamas forces and civilians.[52][53]
All combatants, including insurgents, are bound by the law of war.
Disguising military units
Hamas militants allegedly disguise themselves as civilians and hide weapons in schools, mosques and hospitals, which are violations of international law.[55] The Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions article 37, require distinguishing combatants from civilians, and providing for medical treatment of the wounded by designated units.[56][57][58][59][excessive citations]
Medical facilities
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/SoI-War_23-10-27_IDF_07-03.jpg/220px-SoI-War_23-10-27_IDF_07-03.jpg)
During wartime, medical facilities are considered protected objects, and the use of them for military purposes is a war crime. Hamas has been condemned by the EU for using "hospitals and civilians as human shields".
Israel's claims have been refuted by medical staff and by international bodies.[63] Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a resident doctor at al-Shifa, called Israel's assertion of Hamas using the hospital an "outlandish excuse" to bomb it.[64] In response to the IDF allegations, Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, who has worked both at al-Shifa and al-Quds, stated Israel had a well-documented history of attacking civilian healthcare facilities without ever providing real evidence they were used in military capacities.[65][66][67] On 13 November, Israeli academic Neve Gordon stated Israel was "abusing laws of war" to justify its attacks on hospitals.[68]
The IDF claimed they found bullets, grenades, and an assortment of other small weapons at the Al-Shifa Hospital,[69] and other hospitals in the Gaza Strip. However, the majority of what the IDF have shown is explicitly allowed to be present at a hospital in an urban war zone, according to the 1949 Geneva Conventions - Convention(I), Article 22, Paragraph 3 - because small arms and ammunition can arrive with wounded combatants and may be difficult to dispose of in a timely manner.[70][71] Combatants and civilians are allowed to be treated at the same shared facilities,[72] and both groups of patients are protected. They do not disqualify the hospitals from protected status as medical facilities,[70] it remains illegal to attack the hospitas and illegal to obstruct medical staff doing their duties.[73]
On 5 November, during the
On 14 November, CNN visited what Israel described as a Hamas commander's house, situated between a school and a hospital, and saw a tunnel beneath it that Israel said led in one direction to the school, and in the other direction to the hospital. Visiting the hospital, Israel showed weapons that they said they found in an armory there, as well as unconfirmed indications that hostages may have been held there.[78] According to The New York Times, the origins of the weapons shown in the video could not be independently verified.[79] Charles Lister, Director of the Counterterrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute, stated the IDF footage clearly indicated that the basement was a bomb shelter.[80] Mohammed Zaqout, a Gaza Health Ministry official responsible for Gaza's hospitals, stated the basement was a shelter for women and children.[81]
In December 2023, The Washington Post analyzed the publicly released material by Israel, along with satellite imagery and other publicly available material, and concluded the rooms connected to a tunnel network did not show any evidence of being used by Hamas, and that each of the buildings IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari had identified as being "directly involved" in Hamas's military activity did not appear to be connected to any tunnel network. The Post stated there was no evidence released that showed a tunnel network could be accessed from the hospital wards.[82]
In February 2024, The New York Times analyzed the evidence, concluding that the tunnel likely connected to the broader tunnel network and that it could be accessed from buildings within the hospital complex, although not the individual wards.[83]
Indiscriminate rocket attacks
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/%D9%86%D9%85%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C_%D8%A7%D8%B2_%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%8C_%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A8%DB%8C%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A7%D8%B4%DA%A9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8_%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%DB%8C%D9%84_%DA%A9%D9%87_%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81_%D8%B1%D8%A7%DA%A9%D8%AA_%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%87_%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1_%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AA%D9%87.png/220px-thumbnail.png)
The 7 October attack included at least 3,000 rockets aimed toward Israel, with over 8000 being fired since the war began.[85][86] The rockets hit as far away as Tel Aviv and the outskirts of Jerusalem.[87] Human Rights Watch termed the rocket attacks as indiscriminate.[18][88] These have included repeated direct strikes on medical facilities, such as the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, including pediatric facilities at the Child Development Institute.[89] Human right organizations and scholars have condemned indiscriminate rocket attacks as a war crime.[88][90]
Sexual violence and abuse
According to Israeli military forensic teams, eyewitness testimony, and reported photographic, documentary and video evidence, Hamas militants raped, assaulted, and mutilated Israeli women and girls during the attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.[91][92] Military personnel reported that the bodies of the victims of the 7 October attacks showed multiple signs of rape and "severe stages of abuse". Hamas was accused of gender-based violence, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.[93][94][95] Hamas has denied the allegations of abuse.[91] Shelly Harush, the police officer leading the Israeli investigation recounted to the Times on 2 December 2023 "It's clear now that sexual crimes were part of the planning and the purpose was to terrify and humiliate people".[96]
Some hostages who were held by Hamas were also reportedly sexually abused.
Use of children
On 6 January 2024 Israeli military accused Hamas of using child soldiers,[ambiguous] including to deliver explosive devices and to scout the battlefield in order to "assess the damage" on battlefields. They added that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had for years run summer camps in the Gaza Strip where children underwent military training.[101] Previously Ynet had reported that "a senior Hamas militant" captured by Israel had testified during interrogation that Hamas used children to carry explosives.[102][103]
The use and recruitment of children under 15 as soldiers is a war crime.[103] But the IDF did not specify an age for the alleged child soldiers.[101]
Looting
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Hamas_gunmen_seen_looting_stores_in_Israel.jpg/220px-Hamas_gunmen_seen_looting_stores_in_Israel.jpg)
Looting took place in several kibbutzim and at Nova festival.[104][105] According to the videos published by the Times of Israel the looting in kibbutz Be'eri was done by Palestinian civilians, who arrived at the kibbutz after Hamas militants, stealing agricultural equipment, motorbikes, and televisions.[106]
Attacks on civilian shipping
As part of their
By Israel
Numerous charges of war crimes have been levied against Israel for its actions against civilians. These charges have come from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International,
Proportionality and distinction
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Fars_Photo_of_Destruction_in_Gaza_Strip_during_2023_War_18.jpg/220px-Fars_Photo_of_Destruction_in_Gaza_Strip_during_2023_War_18.jpg)
Israel's adherence to the principles of discrimination and proportionality as required by the laws of war has been questioned.[112][113] Human Rights Watch has stated that the overall civilian death toll, and Israel's use of powerful weapons in Gaza's densely-populated neighbourhoods, raised "serious questions" about the legality of Israel's conduct.[113] Human Rights Watch further argued that a higher proportion of casualties among women and children is indicative of a lack of proportionality, demonstrating what they describe as "a disregard toward Palestinian lives".[113] Amnesty International accused Israel of war crimes in a report where it analyzed five incidents between 7 and 12 October where the IDF targeted residential areas in Gaza. It found that in several cases the IDF struck targets with no evidence of military activity and that these attacks were "indiscriminate" in nature. Anonymous IDF officials cited in a report by +972 Magazine indicated a "loosening of constraints" in the rules of engagement, and that in numerous cases the IDF struck targets despite no evidence of military activity. The report claims that the rationale behind such attacks was "to harm Palestinian civil society" and, according to one source cited by the report, to "lead civilians to put pressure on Hamas".[114]
Experts cited by The Washington Post argue that certain Israeli airstrikes show that Israel has a tolerance for civilian casualties "orders of magnitude greater" than that of the US in its war against ISIS.[115] United Nations officials and human rights groups have argued that Israel has not done enough to protect civilians.[113] In March 2024, the United Nations said that more children were killed in Gaza in four months than in four years of worldwide wars.[116] Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, declared: "This war is a war on children".[116]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Damage_in_Gaza_Strip_during_the_October_2023_-_23.jpg/220px-Damage_in_Gaza_Strip_during_the_October_2023_-_23.jpg)
Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, an associate fellow at Chatham House, argued that, given the size and nature of the 7 October attacks, Israel has a right of self-defence that could include its stated military aim of destroying Hamas, which has threatened to repeat its assault and eradicate the state of Israel.[113] According to The Economist, the law of armed conflict (LOAC) and international humanitarian law (IHL) grant Israel flexibility when it comes to taking military action against Hamas, but in its view, Israel's "definition of military targets is being stretched to breaking-point".[112]
Amichai Cohen, an Israeli lawyer, alleges that Israel does not deliberately target civilians but that Hamas's tactics make it hard to take action without affecting civilians.[112] Jill Goldenziel, a professor at the United States National Defense University and Marine Corps University, states that if Israel conducted every strike legally and with utmost precision, civilian casualties in war would remain, and the goal of a proportionality analysis is to decide whether they are excessive.[117] Israeli security officials state that their proportionality criteria in this conflict are unchanged and that they receive legal advice in relation to strikes.[113] Other Israeli officials, speaking anonymously, acknowledged that Israel has struck "private residences and public structures, like the Gaza Parliament and the Islamic University", which would not previously have been considered valuable enough to justify the risk to civilian life.[113]
In April 2024,
Indiscriminate attacks
In the first week of the war, the IDF carried out 6,000 airstrikes across Gaza, killing over 3,300 civilians and injuring over 12,000.
A +972 Magazine investigation found the IDF had expanded authorization for bombing non-military targets.[114] Research conducted by Dr. Yagil Levy at the Open University of Israel confirmed the +972 report, stating Israel was "deliberately targeting residential blocks to cause mass civilian casualties".[123]
During two airstrikes on 10 and 22 October, the IDF used
Analyses by CNN, The New York Times, and Sky News all found that Israel had bombed areas it had previously told civilians to evacuate to. The Sky News investigation also concluded that Israel's evacuation orders had been "chaotic and contradictory",[129] NYT found that Israel had dropped 2,000-pound bombs in those areas,[130] while CNN stated it had verified at least three locations Israel bombed after telling civilians it was safe to go there.[131] An NBC news investigation found Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in seven areas that the military had designated as safe zones.[132]
In February 2024, the IDF bombed and destroyed the Belgium government's Gaza development office.[133] In response, Belgium summoned the Israeli ambassador and condemned the "destruction of civilian infrastructure" as a violation of international law.[134][a] On 6 February, the UN stated an Israeli assault on Rafah could lead to war crimes.[136]
On 22 March, Al Jazeera released a video retrieved from an Israeli drone showing four unarmed Palestinians in Khan Younis who were killed by Israeli air attacks. Two were killed instantly, and the others were killed while trying to stumble and crawl away.[137] Al-Jazeera reported that “it is clear from the pictures that these Palestinians were unarmed and posed no threat to anything or anyone”.[138] This footage was described by the UN's special rapporteur Francesca Albanese as a part of the “colossal amount of evidence” of war crimes committed in Gaza by Israel. The IDF started the investigation of the footage and said that they had encountered militants in civilian clothes retrieving previously hidden weapons in that area.[139]
Amnesty International called Israel's indiscriminate attacks illegal and a violation of international law. Secretary General of Amnesty International Agnès Callamard said the 16-year-old "illegal blockade has made Gaza the world's biggest open-air prison", and the international community must now act to avert it from becoming a giant cemetery.[140] Human Rights Watch reported that Israel has completely shut down communications and put lives at risk in Gaza by carrying out relentless airstrikes and damage to the main communications infrastructure, electricity cuts, fuel blockades, and deliberate shutdowns through technical measures. Deborah Brown, senior technology researcher at Human Rights Watch, said a deliberate shutdown, or restriction of Internet access, is a human rights violation and can be deadly during a crisis. A complete disruption of communications, such as that experienced in Gaza, can provide cover for crimes and impunity, while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk.[141]
According to Reuters, Israel laid siege to Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, and launched the most powerful bombing campaign in the 75-year-old history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, destroying entire neighbourhoods. Israeli ground forces then swept into Gaza with the stated aim of annihilating Hamas, which runs the enclave.[142] Following reports about Israel's use of automated systems for target selection, experts in international humanitarian law stated they were alarmed by accounts that the IDF was accepting "damage ratios as high as 20 civilians", even for lower-ranking militants.[143]
Summary executions
Defense officials told Haaretz that the Israeli army had created kill zones in Gaza, in which any person who crossed an "invisible line" was killed.[154]
Mass graves
A mass grave with 283 bodies was uncovered in April 2024 at Khan Younis's Nasser medical complex in the southern Gaza city. 30 bodies were buried in two graves in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The CNN reported of an Israeli military base in the
Israeli destruction of mosques, churches, cultural and historic sites
A report in early November 2023 listed over 100 significant archeological and antiquities sites, libraries, religious sites and places of ancient historical importance that Israel had partly or completely destroyed.[163][164][165][166][167]
In January 2024, The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in Gaza estimated that 104 mosques had been damaged or destroyed since the start of the conflict.[168] BBC has verified 74 cases where religious sites were damaged or destroyed, of which 72 were mosques and two were churches.[169] The Nation wrote that the destruction of the Great Omari Mosque in particular, originally a fifth-century Byzantine church, was "a crime against cultural heritage. But more importantly... part of a campaign of total annihilation... a deliberate element of the Israeli campaign to erase all traces of Palestinian life.".[170]
Destruction of cemeteries
Israel has damaged or destroyed at least sixteen cemeteries across the Gaza Strip,[171] in some cases, creating dirt roads across them or establishing military positions. The intentional destruction of religious sites without military necessity is a possible war crime.[172][173] On 21 December, bulldozers destroyed a cemetery in the Al-Saha neighborhood in eastern Gaza.[174][175] On 6 January 2024, Palestinians in Tuffah reburied bodies after the Israeli army reportedly exhumed them and smashed their graves.[176] Gazans in Khan Younis reported the Israeli army raided a cemetery and took corpses.[177][178] The Khan Younis cemetery was reportedly bulldozed over, tombstones crushed, and human remains were visible.[179] Muna Haddad, a lawyer on the treatment of the dead, stated, "What is happening is... considered a war crime of 'committing outrages upon personal dignity' under the Rome Statute."[171] On 27 January 2024, Israeli forces escorted CNN into Gaza in an attempt to explain the destruction of Bani Suheila cemetery, through which a tunnel ran, according to the IDF; but during the three hour visit, Israeli commanders failed to prove their claim.[180] Moreover, the IDF did not permit CNN to see any alleged entrance to the tunnel inside the cemetery, and later provided drone footage of two tunnel entrances, both located outside the cemetery. CNN broadcast footage of completely destroyed, and dug-up cemetery grounds.[181]
Collective punishment
It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It's absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d'etat.
Several actions taken by the Israeli army, including its
In an interview with The New Yorker, human rights expert Sari Bashi noted the historical uniqueness of Israeli officials openly admitting they are engaging in collective punishment.[190] On 18 October, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated Hamas' attacks "cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."[191] On 24 October, Human Rights Watch criticized Israel's refusal to allow fuel or water into a Gaza, terming it a war crime.[192] On 29 October, Karim Ahmad Khan stated Israel's impeding aid to Gaza may constitute a crime under the International Criminal Court.[193] On 7 December, Khan again stated "wilfully impeding relief supplies" may constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute.[194] On 20 January 2024, the IDF dropped leaflets with hostages' images on Rafah, stating, "Do you want to return home? Please make the call if you recognise one of them."[195] On 25 January 2024, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that Israeli troops had fired upon and killed twenty civilians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza City.[196][197]
On 31 January 2024, Haaretz reported that Israeli army commanders were ordering troops to burn down and destroy unoccupied buildings in Gaza.[198] According to Human Rights Watch: "Unlawful and wanton excessive destruction of property that is not militarily justified, is also a war crime."[199] On 16 April 2024, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office stated, "Israel continues to impose unlawful restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, and to carry out widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure".[200] The Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin called Israel's actions "fully disproportionate and... a breach of humanitarian law in terms of the destruction of Gaza".[201]
Starvation
Israel imposed a "complete siege" on Gaza in the first ten days of the war, due to alleged security concerns that weapons, fuel, and armaments would be transferred to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid.[202][203] Israel later allowed the delivery of limited humanitarian aid following security checks.[204] Israel's restriction of the flow of food, fuel, water, and other humanitarian aid was criticized as a war crime by human rights organizations.[205]
In March 2024, the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, stated Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war.[206] Similarly, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated, "The extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime".[207]
Human Rights Watch stated Israel was committing a war crime by using starvation as a method of warfare.[208] Alex de Waal stated it was the worst man-made famine in 75 years.[209] Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor for the ICC, stated, "Stopping aid in particular to destroy civilian life – with intention to destroy a historical community – is genocide."[210] In April 2024, the United Nations human rights office stated Israel was placing "unlawful restrictions" on humanitarian aid.[211]
EuroMed Monitor described the situation as a war of starvation against civilians in the Gaza Strip. EuroMed noted living conditions had reached catastrophic levels by Israel cutting off all food supplies to the Northern half, and bombing and destroying factories, bakeries, food stores, water stations, and tanks throughout the entire enclave. EuroMed additionally noted Israel deliberately focused its attacks on targeting electrical generators and solar energy units, on which commercial facilities and restaurants depend, to maintain the minimum possible level of their work. Israel also targeted the agricultural areas east of Gaza, flour stores, and fishermen's boats, as well as relief organizations' centers, including those belonging to the UNRWA. As a result, over 90% of the children in Gaza suffered from varying health issues, including malnutrition, anemia, and weakened immunity.[212] Israeli snipers reportedly targeted people waiting for humanitarian aid.[213]
The ICJ ruled as part of the interim measures that Israel facilitate the flow of aid and lessen humanitarian suffering in Gaza.[214] In its March 2024 interim ruling, the ICJ stated, "The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (...) but that famine is setting in."[215]
Israel has challenged the IPC's past methodology, citing academics in the Israeli public health sector.[216] An independent study by researchers from Columbia University found that "sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza", though, "it may not always be distributed to people due to other factors, such as war and Hamas control".[217]
Violations of medical neutrality
Israel is alleged to have broken
On 21 October, the Ministry of Health noted Israel had attacked 69 health facilities, 24 ambulances, put 7 hospitals out of commission, and killed 37 medical staff.[231] Health workers and aid groups said several hospitals in Gaza were hit by airstrikes and shelling. The Palestine Red Crescent Society accused Israel of "deliberately" carrying out airstrikes "directly around" Gaza's second-largest hospital, al-Quds Hospital, in north Gaza, to force them to evacuate the facility. The World Health Organization (WHO) found it impossible to evacuate the hospital. According to CNN, even those who evacuated south have not been safe.[232] On 30 October 2023, a Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, located in the south of Gaza, was struck by a "direct hit", causing damage and injuries.[233][234]
On 3 November, an Israeli
During the Siege of Gaza City, Israeli snipers reportedly fired on the intensive care unit in Al-Quds Hospital, killing one person and wounding 28.[243] Doctors in Al-Shifa Hospital reported snipers at the outskirts of the complex were firing at "any moving person".[244] Fabrizio Carbone, the Middle East regional head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, stated Israel's attacks on al-Shifa Hospital could not continue, stressing patients and hospital staff should be "protected in line with the laws of war".[245] In response to the Al-Shifa Hospital siege, Human Rights Watch stated Israel's actions against hospitals need to be investigated as war crimes.[246] Jennifer Cassidy, a legal expert at University of Oxford, stated Israel's siege on al-Shifa was a war crime "plain and simple".[247] Following an Israeli attack on Indonesia Hospital, the Indonesian Foreign Minister called it a clear violation of international humanitarian law.[248]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Cardiff_Solidarity_for_Palestine_protest%2C_25_November_2023_142309_%28redacted%29.jpg/220px-Cardiff_Solidarity_for_Palestine_protest%2C_25_November_2023_142309_%28redacted%29.jpg)
On 18 November 2023, two people were killed while traveling in a clearly identified Doctors Without Borders evacuation convoy in Gaza City.[249] Doctors Without Borders termed it a "deliberate attack."[250] On 16 December, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called for an international investigation into Israeli war crimes at the Kamal Adwan Hospital.[251] On 17 January 2024, Israeli fire damaged the Jordanian field hospital, leading the Jordanian army to call it a "flagrant breach of international law".[252] On 19 January, Jordan stated Israel had "deliberately" targeted the hospital.[253] The World Health Organization stated on 24 January it had recorded 660 Israel attacks on healthcare facilities, calling them "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law".[254] On 31 January, Doctors Without Borders stated Israel had conducted "systematic attacks on health facilities" which they stated was unprecedented for their organization.[255]
On 8 February, the Palestinian Red Crescent accused the IDF of deliberately killing one of their paramedics.
Targeting of journalists
On 1 November, Reporters Without Borders asked the International Criminal Court to begin a priority war crimes investigation into the killing of nine journalists.[260] RSF noted that of the 41 journalists killed in the first month of the conflict, 36 among them were Palestinian reporters killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.[261]
In an interview with NPR, Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, called for an ICC investigation into the killing of journalists in Gaza, stating the killings "appear to have been targeted".[262] On 27 January 2024, the International Federation of Journalists wrote an open-letter to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant stating they would take Israel to court if it did not comply with the ICJ's order to avoid targeting journalists.[263] In February 2024, the deputy director of the International Federation of Journalists stated, "There appears to have been a systematic campaign to kill and terrify and maim journalists in Gaza".[264]
On 13 February 2024, the Al Jazeera Media Network stated Israel had attacked two of its journalists in Gaza, calling it "a full-fledged crime added to Israel's crimes against journalists, and a new part in the series of the deliberate targeting of Al Jazeera's journalists".[265] A representative from Media Defence stated, "Journalists are civilians so they are entitled to all the protections that civilians should have in times of conflict".[266] The director of the International Press Institute stated, "We see journalists clearly targeted… Our organisation has been monitoring press freedom for almost 75 years and this is the worst attack we have seen on journalists in any conflict".[267]
Forced evacuation
On 13 October, the Israeli army ordered the
On 14 October, the World Health Organization issued a statement condemning Israel's order to evacuate 22 hospitals in northern Gaza, calling it a "death sentence".
In March 2024, Paula Gaviria Betancur, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of internally displaced persons, stated ahead of Israel's planned Rafah offensive: "Any evacuation order imposed on Rafah under the current circumstances, with the rest of Gaza reduced to rubble, would be a flagrant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law."[281] French president Emmanuel Macron told Netanyahu that a forced transfer of the population from Rafah would be a war crime.[282] In May 2024, Volker Türk condemned Israel's evacuation orders in Rafah, stating, "This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws".[283] A UNOCHA spokesperson said of the Rafah evacuation: "There are strong indications that this is being conducted in violation of international humanitarian law".[284]
Buffer zone
Israel sought to create an expanded
Looting
During the war, soldiers
West Bank
During the war, the Israeli military was increasingly active in the West Bank. According to Amnesty International, Israel violated international humanitarian law by using disproportionate force during arrest raids, blocking medical assistance to people with life-threatening injuries, attacking paramedics, and conducting unlawful killings.[300] Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty's director of global research, stated, "These unlawful killings are in blatant violation of international human rights law and are committed with impunity".[301] Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on human rights, stated that a November 2023 IDF killing of two boys appeared to be a war crime.[302] On 5 March 2024, the Palestinian Red Crescent stated that it had recorded 427 violations against its medical mission by Israel in the West Bank, terming these a violation of international humanitarian law.[303]
Israeli forces disguised as medical staff and civilians have shot dead three Palestinians inside a hospital in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Hospital says the men were ‘assassinated’. Israel says they belonged to a ‘Hamas terrorist cell’.[304] The BBC called them "members of Palestinian armed groups".[305] But, even if they are militants, it is a war crime to gadget them when wounded, and a war crime to impersonate doctors in the process.[306] According to UN exports, the killing of three Palestinian men in a hospital in the occupied West Bank by Israeli commandos disguised as medical workers and Muslim women may amount to war crimes.[307]
Following the demolition of a Palestinian activist's family home in
BBC News reported in May 2024 that 11 soldiers of the Kfir Brigade (which is primarily active in the West Bank) posted on social media 45 photos and videos showing detained Palestinians; the Israeli Defence Forces did not respond when asked about the individual incidents or individual soldiers involved and identified, instead broadly stating: "In the event of unacceptable behavior, soldiers were disciplined and even suspended from reserve duty."[315] BBC News further reported that the soldiers did not obscure their identities, with some of them posting under names of Yohai Vazana, Ofer Bobrov, Sammy Ben, and Ori Dahbash.[315] According to BBC News, the "detained Palestinians are frequently shown blindfolded and restrained, having been forced to either lie on the floor, or squat, with their hands bound behind their backs", with some detainees being covered in Israeli flags.[315]
Use of white phosphorus on civilians
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International's Crisis Evidence Lab shared evidence that Israeli military units striking in Gaza and Lebanon have employed white phosphorus artillery rounds; Israel denied the report, calling the accusation "unequivocally false".[316] White phosphorus munitions are allowed on battlefields for specific purposes such as creating smokescreens, generating illumination, and marking targets. They are not banned as chemical weapons under international conventions due to these legitimate uses.[316][317]
White phosphorus is used in smoke, illumination, and incendiary munitions, and ignites when exposed to atmospheric oxygen. Upon contact, it can cause deep and severe injuries, potentially leading to multiple organ failure, and even minor burns can be fatal. White phosphorus is considered an incendiary weapon, and Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons prohibits their use against military targets located among civilians, although Israel is not a signatory.[318] According to Human Rights Watch, the use of white phosphorus is "unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians", and "violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life".[319]
According to Amnesty International weapons investigator Brian Castner, whether this particular case constitutes a war crime depends on "the intended target of this attack, and the intended use", but that, "generally, any attacks that fail to discriminate between civilians and military forces can potentially be a violation of the laws of war".[320] On 31 October, after an investigation, Amnesty International stated that an 16 October Israeli white phosphorus attack was indiscriminate, unlawful, and "must be investigated as a war crime", due to its use on the populated Lebanese town of Dhayra, which injured at least nine civilians.[321][322] On 2 November, Amnesty International stated its investigations into four incidents on 10, 11, 16 and 17 October showed Israel had used white phosphorus munitions.[323] In Lebanon, Israel's white phosphorus bombs have destroyed over 4.5 million sq m of forest in southern Lebanon with the economic loses being valued at nearly 20 million dollars.[324] An investigation by the Washington Post uncovered that white phosphorus used in an October attack that injured 9 people in Lebanon were supplied by the US.[325]
Killing of surrendered people
Surrendered Palestinians
On 10 October, the
In video footage dated 8 December 2023, the Israeli military is seen killing two Palestinians from the West Bank's Far'a refugee camp in what B'Tselem described as "illegal executions". One man holding a cannister was shot, and was then gunned down while he laid bleeding on the ground. A second man, who was completely unarmed and hiding under a car, was shot and killed instantly. The Israeli military later said they would investigate the attacks.[330]
Human rights groups documented multiple instances of civilians in Gaza being shot by Israeli soldiers while waving
On 24 January 2024, British network ITV released footage of an Israeli sniper shooting and killing a man carrying a white flag whom the journalist had interviewed only moments before his death.[335] Both the Norwegian Refugee Council and Amnesty International termed it a possible war crime.[336] An IDF senior commander later stated, "There are mistakes, it is war."[337]
According to a witness interviewed by Al Jazeera, the corpses of 30 people were found on 31 January 2024 inside a schoolyard in northern Gaza, with the bodies reportedly blindfolded, and their legs and hands tied.
Footage obtained by Al Jazeera English showed two men waving white flags being killed by Israeli forces, then buried by army bulldozers.[346] The IDF confirmed the killing of the two men, stating they had been acting in a "suspicious manner" and didn't respond to warning shots; they said they buried them with bulldozers as they feared they were carrying explosives.[347] The Palestine Red Crescent Society condemned Israel's actions as "extrajudicial killings".[348] The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the killings a "heinous war crime".[349]
Surrendered Israeli hostages
On 15 December, the IDF released a statement announcing that they had killed three of their own hostages by friendly fire. According to the Israeli military, they "mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat" during operations in Shuja'iyya and subsequently fired at them, killing them.[350][351][352] According to an Israeli military official on 16 December, the three hostages were shirtless and waving a white flag. The official claimed that one soldier responded to this by "open[ing] fire" and "declar[ing] that they're terrorists"; more Israeli forces fired, killing two hostages "immediately" and wounding the third hostage, who appealed for help in Hebrew.[353] The wounded hostage was pursued into a nearby building by IDF soldiers, where he was killed despite continued pleas for help.[354] Though he claimed that the soldiers were "under pressure" when this happened, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi also stated that "It is forbidden to shoot at someone who raises a white flag and seeks to surrender", a sentiment echoed by the former head of Mossad, Danny Yatom.[355] Nahum Barnea wrote that the killing of the hostages, unarmed and waving a white flag, was a "war crime" and that "international law is very clear on the issue".[356][357] A preliminary IDF investigation found the soldiers were told to open fire on all fighting-age men who approached them, after a number of incidents where militants disguised themselves as civilians to approach soldiers.[358]
Perfidy by the IDF
Israeli forces disguised as civilians
On 30 January 2024, Israeli forces entered the
The IDF initially said the raid had been a "joint IDF, ISA, and Israel Police counterterrorism activity", and later said that none of their soldiers were physically present during the raid.
Use of human shields
On 17 January 2024, Israeli soldiers were recorded using a Palestinian shop-owner in
On June 22, 2024, a video was posted of an injured Palestinian man strapped to the hood of an Israeli jeep driving through Jenin. Another eyewitness asserted that the IDF paraded the wounded man around on the hood, keeping the victim under the hot sun for several minutes, until handing him over to a Palestinian Red Cross ambulance which was parked nearby. This, the source argued, was evidence that the wounded man was not a suspect, as the IDF later maintained.[376][377] A UN expert said the incident amounted to the use of human shields.[378]
Abuse and humiliation of detainees
Video evidence surfaced of what was described as a "flagrant violation of international laws related to the protection of civilians" by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Israeli soldiers were shown surrounding detainees in Yatta, Hebron who were being dragged and assaulted by the Israeli soldiers. Many of the detainees had been stripped naked, having both their arms and feet bound, and beaten with the butts of rifles and trampled.[379] Video evidence depicting degradation towards detainees shows Israeli soldiers transporting Palestinians from Ofer prison, all of whom are blindfolded and stripped completely naked.[380] In another video uploaded by an Israeli soldier, a blindfolded and bound Palestinian is shown kneeling on the ground. The soldier taunts him in Arabic, telling him "صباح الخير يا قحبة" (Good morning, whore) before repeatedly kicking and spitting on him.[381] On 11 December, Human Rights Watch director, Omar Shakir, stated the blindfolding and stripping of Palestinian detainees represented a war crime.[382][383]
On 20 December,
Sexual violence
On 19 February 2024, a report co-authored by
The report stated, "Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped".
Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, criticized the underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians, stating, "Rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide! It must stop!"[397]
A June 2024 The New York Times investigation detailed allegations stating that Israeli interrogators in the Sde Teiman detention camp had inserted hot metal sticks inside detainee's anuses. One detainee reportedly died from the resultant injuries.[398] An April 2024 Haaretz investigation found that prisoners in Ktzi'ot Prison were routinely stripped and humiliated, and they were also deliberately struck in the testicles while undergoing naked checks with a metal detector.[399]
Arms transfers
States transferring weapons to Israel faced charges of violations of international law. In February 2024, a group of more than a dozen
Canadian Foreign Minister
After the UK Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell stated Israeli compliance with international humanitarian law was under review, the UK shadow foreign secretary David Lammy stated arms export licenses should be denied if "there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law".[409] 600 UK lawyers, including three former justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, stated the UK's arming of Israel was a breach of international law.[410] Following reports the UK Foreign Office found Israel had violated international humanitarian law, Geoffrey Nice stated, "Countries supplying arms to Israel may now be complicit in criminal warfare."[411]
In May 2024, Amnesty International called on all states to cease weapons transfers to Israel and Palestine while there is "a risk they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law".[412]
Allegations of genocide
Allegations of genocide committed by Palestinian militants
Several experts in international law and genocide studies characterized Hamas' assault as genocide.[413][414][415] Legal and genocide experts have condemned the attack, during which 1,139 people were killed, including 695 Israeli civilians. They argue that these actions by Hamas constitute a significant violation of international law and were carried out with the intent to destroy the Israeli national group.[415][414][413] Some commentators highlight Hamas's founding charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel; this has led to suggestions that its intent is genocidal and that the attacks on 7 October were an attempt to fulfill this agenda.[416][417]
In a 12 October preliminary legal assessment condemning Hamas's attacks in Israel, international humanitarian law scholar and Dean of Cornell Law School Jens David Ohlin said the evidence suggested Hamas's "killings and kidnappings" potentially violated Articles 6–8 of the Rome Statute as well as the Genocide Convention and were "crimes against humanity"; over a hundred international scholars expressed support for this position.[418][419]
In the West, Hamas has long been considered to harbor aspirations of genocide against Israel and its Jewish population, as an interpretation of their 1988 charter referenced a hadith (saying attributed to Muhammad) that in the End Times, Jews will follow the false Messiah, after which Muslims will kill and be victorious over Jews.[420][421][422][423][424] Legal and genocide experts condemned the attack as a severe violation of international law, asserting that Hamas executed these acts with the intent to destroy the Israeli national group.[425][426][427][428] Over 100 international scholars describing the actions as likely meeting the definition of genocide, saying "As these widespread, horrendous acts appear to have been carried out with an 'intent to destroy, in whole or in part' a national group – Israelis – a goal explicitly declared by Hamas, they most probably constitute an international crime of genocide, proscribed by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court".[429]
Other groups, including
Some commentators have pointed toward Hamas' founding charter, which contains anti-Semitic language, advocates for the destruction of Israel, and, according to some of the researchers, implies a call for the genocide of Jews. This has led to suggestions that the 7 October attacks were an effort to fulfill this agenda.[431][432][433][434]
Allegations of genocide committed by Israel
Israel has been accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza during the war.
The Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant declared on 9 October: "we are fighting human animals".[435][436] As mentioned by the Times, Gallant promised “a complete siege” on Gaza, with “no electricity, no food, no fuel”. The next day he told Israeli troops he had “released all restraints”. Giora Eiland, a former Israeli general, wrote the same month: “To make the siege effective, we have to prevent others from giving assistance to Gaza."[437]
On 15 October,
On 29 December,
Some researchers in the fields of urban planning and architecture have alleged that the destruction in Gaza, particularly the destruction of historic buildings and essential infrastructure such as hospitals and universities, amounts to
Aftermath
Gaza
According to Pehr Lodhammar, a senior official at the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), under certain conditions it can take up to 14 years to remove debris, including debris from destroyed buildings. The war left an estimated 37 million tons of debris in a widely urbanized, densely populated area.[460][461]
See also
- Casualties of the Israel–Hamas war
- Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)#War Crimes
- Violent incidents in reaction to the Israel–Hamas war
- International law and the Arab–Israeli conflict
- Gaza humanitarian crisis (2023–present)
- Outline of the Israel–Hamas war
- Palestinian genocide accusation
- Sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Israel–Hamas war
Notes
- ^ Two weeks after the bombing, the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation Caroline Gennez stated Israel had still not responded to a request for an investigation.[135]
- ^ The Financial Times later silently deleted Herzog's quote from its article, cf. archive copy of the article from the evening of 13 October.[186]
- ^ On 27 December 2023, UNOCHA stated that since 7 October, 1,208 people had been displaced due settler violence, 393 due to lacking Israeli building permits, 95 on punitive grounds, and 483 due to army demolitions.[308]
- ^ The director stated that in prior cases, "There were statements that they would be investigated but no one was held into account".[333]
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The following conditions shall not be considered as depriving a medical unit or establishment of the protection guaranteed by Article 19: … (3) That small arms and ammunition taken from the wounded and sick and not yet handed to the proper service, are found in the unit or establishment.
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