Gaza offensive: war crimes

Stephen Zunes has an excellent summary article of the main reports on human rights violations during the recent Gaza offensive. Those reports note war crimes on the part of both Hamas and Israel, but of course, the overwhelming responsibility lies with the IDF.

For instance, Hamas lobbed rockets into civilian-populated areas in southwestern Israel, violating Article 48 of Protocol I to the Geneva Convention of 1948, which states: "Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives."

However, Israel also violated that same provision on a far grander scale. During the fighting, Palestinians killed 10 Israelis, 3 of whom were civilians, while Israeli forces killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were civilians.

Zunes also addresses the question of human shields:

Hamas is often accused of "using these civilians as human shields." But independent human rights groups have accused Hamas of less-severe violations of international humanitarian law, such as not taking all necessary steps it should to prevent civilian casualties when it positioned fighters and armaments too close to concentrations of civilians. However, this isn't the same thing as deliberately using civilians as shields. Furthermore, the nature of urban warfare, particularly in a territory as densely populated as the Gaza Strip, makes the proximity of retreating fighters and their equipment to civilians unavoidable in many cases.

Even if Hamas were using human shields in the legal definition of the term, it still does not absolve Israel from its obligation to avoid civilian casualties. Amnesty International has noted that the Geneva Conventions make it clear that even if one side is shielding itself behind civilians, such a violation "shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians."