An Analysis of Israeli Attacks Committed in the Recent Invasion of Gaza
By: Sebastian Southworth
Twenty-four hours before Israel invaded the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered 1.1 million Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza. The invasion was in response to the horrific pillaging, kidnapping, and raping that Hamas committed on October 7th. Nonetheless, more Americans are beginning to support Palestine over Israel than ever before. Out of Americans aged 18-29 years old who have an opinion, 61% of them believe Biden is favoring Israel too much. The reason being that America should only provide aid to Israel on the condition that the nation ends its acts of perfidy, blockade of humanitarian, and mistreatment of prisoners of war committed against the citizens of Gaza.
Israel’s evacuation of northern Gaza and invasion of southern Gaza is a war crime because the evacuation and invasion is an act of perfidy, which is the intent to betray the confidence of protection in an armed conflict. Before Israel invaded Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces declared, “Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families.” The citizens of northern Gaza were promised that their families would be safe in southern Gaza. Three days later, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed Aaed Al-Ajrami and 12 members of his family after they evacuated. This region was claimed to be a “safe zone” where citizens would not be attacked. A month later, NPR reported that 3,600 Palestinian civilians died at the hands of the IDF in southern Gaza, the “safe zone.” Israel ordered Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza en-masse, because the IDF claimed it was safe there. But the “safe zone” turned out to be anything but safe. According to United Nations special rapporteur Paula Betancur, “Israel has reneged on promises of safety made to those who complied with its order to evacuate northern Gaza.” By definition Israel is in violation of Article 37 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits perfidy.
Israel’s blockade and attack on the transportation of humanitarian resources to Gaza, violates Article 23 of the Geneva Conventions and Article 8(2)(b)(iii) of the Rome Statute, which outlaws the prohibition of humanitarian aid. Israeli airstrikes have been ordered on ambulances and the World Central Kitchen aid convoy, which were mistakenly identified as Hamas-operated vehicles. According to Marc Garlasco, a former United Nations military analyst and war crimes investigator, “when executing such strikes, militaries don’t do the more detailed and granular checks that might protect civilians.” In other words, Israel’s negligence is resulting in the destruction of aid vehicles and the deaths of aid workers. According to the United Nation website, “Israeli authorities [have continued] to deny the [U.N.] access to northern Gaza to deliver emergency food assistance.” Since May 6th, Israel has denied passage to every U.N. aid truck entering Gaza. Simply put, Israel is in violation of Article 23 of the Geneva Conventions, which states, “[countries] shall likewise permit the free passage of all consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics.” Additionally, “intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations” is a war crime according to Article 8(2)(b)(iii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The torture and dehumanization of Palestinians in the invasion constitutes as a continuous violation of Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention. According to an Israeli whistleblower, there’s a prison in Israel “where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for being ‘a paradise for interns’; and where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot.” Multiple witnesses, photographs and even an unpublished U.N. report corroborates the accusations. Additionally, many detainees there have no affiliation with Hamas. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh is a renowned orthopedics surgeon who was held hostage at the prison along with ten other medical workers. The doctor later died in captivity. Detaining Palestinian non-combatants and torturing them violates Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention, which states, “no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind.”
In the invasion of Gaza, Israel has committed crimes of perfidy, denial of humanitarian aid, and mistreatment of POWs. As young Americans are increasingly sympathizing more with Palestinians than Israelis, a growing chorus of voices is becoming critical of American military aid to Israel. In 2023, America gave $14,000,000,000 to the Israeli military. Making that military aid conditional forces Israel to abide by international law and helps the people of Gaza live better lives.
