Israel and its allies have insisted the bombings are justified because it has the
right to self-defence in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people and injured more than 5,600 in southern Israel. According to Article 51 of the UN Charter, until the UN Security Council takes measures to maintain international peace and security,
“nothing in the charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations.”
Many experts aren’t convinced that it does apply. The attack Israel faced on October 7 came from an armed group in a territory, Gaza, that Israel has effectively controlled. “Israel does not claim it has been threatened by another state. It has been threatened by an armed group within an occupied territory. It cannot claim the right of self-defence against a threat that emanates from a territory it occupies, from a territory kept under belligerent occupation,” Albanese said.
Armed conflicts are governed by international humanitarian law (IHL), a set of rules contained in international agreements like the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 as well as other agreements and conventions meant to ensure that all member nations subscribe to a list of fundamental rules during conflicts. In the current conflict, though, experts said Israel’s actions seem to violate all of the four main principles of IHL: distinction between civilians and combatants, proportionality between anticipated loss of civilian life and damage and the strategic military advantage of an attack, legitimate military purposes and the humane treatment of all individuals from civilians to detainees and hostages.
Yet Israel has been unrelenting in these attacks despite facing heavy criticism. Experts have pointed to how it has relied on the claim, backed by the US and EU, that Hamas is using civilians in these places as 'human shields'. “The claim that civilians are being used as human shields does not absolve a party from its obligations under IHL. Even if combatants are present, attacks must still adhere to the principles of distinction and proportionality,” Overton said, pointing to how UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
called Gaza a “graveyard for children” on November 7.
At least three Palestinian rights groups have filed a
lawsuit with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel during the ongoing war. And this week,
French lawyer Gilles Devers submitted a complaint to the prosecutor at the ICC on behalf of Gaza victims. A US-based civil rights group, the Center for Constitutional Rights, has also
sued Biden and senior members of his cabinet for “complicity” in the “unfolding genocide”.
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