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Hamas war crimes are the violations of international criminal law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, which the Islamist Nationalist organization Hamas and its paramilitary wing, the al-Qassam Brigades have been accused of committing. These have included murder, intentional targeting of civilians, killing prisoners of war and surrendered combatants, indiscriminate attacks, the use of human shields, rape, [2] torture and pillage.
Determining the applicability of laws of war to militant groups is a difficult question, as both the Council of Europe and International Committee of the Red Cross note that international law traditionally treats war and terrorism as separate legal categories. [3] [4] The Israeli, American, EU, UK, Japanese, and Canadian governments define Hamas as a terrorist group. However, many countries have disagreed with this characterization and have engaged with Hamas as a legitimate political entity. [5] [6] While the term "international law" conventionally pertains to states, it has also been applied to insurgent and terrorist armed forces. [7] Accordingly, even insurgencies deemed lawful under international law that meet the criteria of "just cause" must also adhere to principles of "just means" as well. [8] Regarding Hamas and its combatants, even if they have a presumptive right to fight against what they term as an "illegal occupation," they must still abide by legal rules of "discrimination", "proportionality", and "military necessity" under international law as conventional states do. [9] [10]
According to Human Rights Watch, "international humanitarian law, through the well-established doctrine of command responsibility" also applies "to political and other leaders insofar as they have 'effective responsibility and control' over the actors in question...thus making its leadership also criminally liable." [11]
According to Amnesty International, the "prohibition on targeting civilians is absolute in international law". [12]
Human Rights Watch has declared that the "scale and systematic nature" of Hamas' targeting of Israeli civilians "meet the definition of a crime against humanity", and that its particular use of suicide bombings taking "place in the context of violence that amounts to armed conflict...are also war crimes." [13]
According to Amnesty International, "the campaign of suicide bombings and deliberate attacks against Israeli civilians by Hamas and other armed groups constitutes crimes against humanity. [12]
Between September 1993 and the outbreak of the Second Intifada in September 2000, "Palestinian groups carried out fourteen suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians, mostly in 1996-97, killing more than 120 and wounding over 550. Hamas said it committed most of the attacks." [14]
In the decade between 2000 and 2010, there were 146 suicide attacks committed by Palestinian militant groups against Israelis, resulting in 516 fatalities. [15] A 2007 Harvard University study of 135 Palestinian suicide attacks conducted between September 2000 and August 2005 determined Hamas responsible for 39.9% of such attacks during that period. [16]
Israel has accused Hamas of using human shields in the Gaza Strip, saying that Hamas has purposely attempted to shield itself from Israeli attacks by storing weapons in civilian infrastructure, launching rockets from residential areas, and telling residents to ignore Israeli warnings to flee. Israel has also accused Hamas of maintaining command and control bunkers and tunnel infrastructure below hospitals. Hamas has denied using hospitals to shield any command centre, [17] while it has previously made remarks expressing support for Palestinians refusing to flee areas Israel has targeted. [18]
The Israeli accusations have been supported by NATO, [19] and during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war EU nations condemned Hamas for using hospitals as human shields, while the UN Secretary General said "Hamas and other militants use civilians as human shields". [20] [21] In 2023, HRW stated "Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups need to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control from the effects of attacks and not use civilians as 'human shields.'" [22]
Between 2000 and 2021, over 17,000 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza. [23] Hamas' use of indiscriminate rocket attacks on civilians has been widely condemned as a war crime. [24] [25] Palestinian UN Observer Ibrahim Kraishi has equally decried the attacks, stating that "every rocket and mortar fired from Gaza toward Israel is a “crime against humanity.” [26]
During the Second Intifada, the majority[ ambiguous ] of Israeli casualties were civilian non-combatants, with Hamas conducting numerous[ ambiguous ] attacks deliberately targeting civilians. [27] [28]
Prominent examples include:
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According to the Jerusalem Post, during the 2014 Gaza War, 20 civilians from Shuja'iyya were killed while protesting against Hamas. [29] A few days later, Hamas reportedly killed two Palestinians in Gaza and wounded ten after a scuffle broke out over food handouts. [30]
The IDF stated on 31 July that more than 280 Hamas rockets [31] malfunctioned and fell inside the Gaza strip, hitting sites including Al-Shifa Hospital and the Al-Shati refugee camp, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens. [32] Out of the Hamas denied that any of its rockets hit the Gaza Strip., [31] [33] [34] but Palestinian sources[ who? ] said numerous rocket launches ended up falling in Gaza communities and that scores of people have been killed or injured. Israeli Military sources said the failed Hamas launches increased amid heavy Israeli air and artillery strikes throughout the Gaza Strip. They said the failed launches reflected poorly assembled rockets as well as the rush to load and fire projectiles before they were spotted by Israeli aircraft. [35] While the Al-Shifa Hospital incident is disputed, early news reports have suggested that the strike was from an Israeli drone missile. [32] [36] [37] UK based human rights group, Amnesty International concluded that the explosion at the Shati refugee camp on 28 July in which 13 civilians were killed was caused by a Palestinian rocket, despite Palestinian claims it was an Israeli missile. [38]
Shurat HaDin filed a suit with the ICC charging Khaled Mashaal with war crimes for the executions of 38 civilians. [39] [40] Hamas co-founder Ayman Taha was found dead; Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported he had been shot by Hamas for maintaining contact with the intelligence services of several Arab countries; Hamas stated he was targeted by an Israeli airstrike.[ citation needed ]
On 26 May 2015, Amnesty International released a report saying that Hamas carried out extrajudicial killings, abductions and arrests of Palestinians and used the Al-Shifa Hospital to detain, interrogate and torture suspects. It details the executions of at least 23 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel and torture of dozens of others, many victims of torture were members of the rival Palestinian movement, Fatah. [41] [42]
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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. [44]
On 10 October 2023 the OHCHR stated the taking of hostages and use of human shields were war crimes. [45] United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Türk noted that militant groups' "horrifying mass killings" were violations of international law. [46]
As one of the first massacres of many in the coordinated attacks on 7 October 2023, militants of the al-Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian factions entered a music festival in Re'im at c. 7 a.m. local time and murdered over 360 people, as well as taking over 40 people hostage. Considering the attack on festival goers as indiscriminate in nature, along with a lack of Israeli military presence during the massacre, it could only be considered an intentional attack against civilians. [47] [48] [49]
At c. 7:10 a.m., on 7 October 2023, [50] around 70 al-Qassam and DFLP militants had entered and attacked the kibbutz of Be'eri, taking over 130 peoples' lives, [51] including women (such as peace activist Vivian Silver), [52] children, [53] toddlers, and one infant, [54] [55] [56] [57] in total claiming the lives of 10% of the farming community's residents. Dozens of homes were also burned down. [58]
On August 31, 2024, the IDF recovered the bodies of six hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from a tunnel in Rafah. Autopsies revealed that they had been killed from close range just 1–2 days earlier. Subsequently, it was reported that Hamas militants holding Israeli hostages in Gaza were given new orders to execute them if Israeli forces approached. [59] Following the recovery and burial of the hostages, Hamas released a propaganda video showing one of the slain captives before her death, seemingly intended to inflict psychological distress on the families of the hostages. Additionally, Hamas issued a warning that it would execute any remaining hostages if Israel attempted a rescue operation. [60]
A human shield is a non-combatant who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it.
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when 200,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes, settling in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel has been involved in about 15 wars involving organizations in the Gaza Strip. The number of Gazans reportedly killed in the ongoing 2023–2024 war (37,000) is higher than the death toll of all other wars of the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Incidents in the Gaza War include incidents involving attacks against civilians, a school, a mosque, and naval confrontations.
Al-Shifa Hospital is the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, located in the neighborhood of northern Rimal in Gaza City.
Accusations of violations regarding international humanitarian law, which governs the actions by belligerents during an armed conflict, have been directed at both Israel and Hamas for their actions during the 2008–2009 Gaza War. The accusations covered violating laws governing distinction and proportionality by Israel, the indiscriminate firing of rockets at civilian locations and extrajudicial violence within the Gaza Strip by Hamas. As of September 2009, some 360 complaints had been filed by individuals and NGOs at the prosecutor's office in the Hague calling for investigations into alleged crimes committed by Israel during the Gaza War.
The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge, and Battle of the Withered Grain, was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, against its governing body Hamas.
Aside from its use of political violence in pursuit of its goals, the Palestinian political and military organization Hamas has been widely criticised for a variety of reasons, including its alleged use of hate speech by its representatives, alleged use of human shields and child combatants as part of its military operations, alleged restriction of political freedoms within the Gaza Strip, and alleged human rights abuses.
The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.
Events in 2023 in the Palestinian territories.
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War, in 1973. It is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Israeli war crimes are violations of international criminal law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide, which the Israel Defense Forces have committed or been accused of committing since the founding of Israel in 1948. These have included murder, intentional targeting of civilians, killing prisoners of war and surrendered combatants, indiscriminate attacks, collective punishment, starvation, the use of human shields, sexual violence and rape, torture, pillage, forced transfer, breach of medical neutrality, targeting journalists, attacking civilian and protected objects, wanton destruction, incitement to genocide, and genocide.
The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Israel–Hamas war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attacks, Israel began the bombing of Gaza Strip; on 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza, and on 27 October, a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel's campaign, called Operation Swords of Iron, has two stated goals: to destroy Hamas and to free the hostages. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli operation began, including more than 7,800 children and 4,900 women, with another 10,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. There are allegations that Israel has committed war crimes and genocide during the invasion.
Since the start of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the UN Human Rights Council has identified "clear evidence" of war crimes by both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces. A UN Commission to the Israel–Palestine conflict stated that there is "clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed in the latest explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza, and all those who have violated international law and targeted civilians must be held accountable." On 27 October, a spokesperson for the OHCHR called for an independent court to review potential war crimes committed by both sides.
The Israeli Air Force was founded on 28 May 1948. Since the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces have launched thousands of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip from Israel as part of the continuing Gaza–Israel conflict. The airstrikes, widely condemned for targeting civilians, have been described as war crimes by the United Nations, human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The international community considers indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets to be illegal under international law. Israel says the airstrikes are a response to the rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.
Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, was placed under siege by Israel in mid-November 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war, after saying it had contained a Hamas command and control center beneath it. The incident was followed by a second major raid by Israeli forces in March 2024.
Hamas has been accused of using human shields in the Gaza Strip, purposely attempting to shield itself from Israeli attacks by storing weapons in civilian infrastructure, launching rockets from residential areas, and telling residents to ignore Israeli warnings to flee. Israel has accused Hamas of maintaining command and control bunkers and tunnel infrastructure below hospitals, with some of the accusations being supported by the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations Secretary General. Hamas has denied using civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as human shields.
The accusation of the use of human shields is a common theme in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, PIJ, and the PRC, have been accused of using civilians as shields.
Al-Shifa Hospital is a government run hospital in Gaza City, Palestine, most of the staff are employees of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. During the Israel–Hamas war, Israel and the United States stated that a vast complex existed under al-Shifa hospital that was being used by Hamas as its "main operations base", which Hamas and hospital administrators denied. Following Israel's release of video evidence on 22 November, multiple news agencies concluded that the evidence did not demonstrate the use by Hamas of a command center, while Haaretz concluded that Hamas did use the hospital for military purposes. Amnesty International said on 23 November 2023 that "Amnesty International has so far not seen any credible evidence to support Israel’s claim that al-Shifa is housing a military command centre" and that "the Israeli military has so far failed to provide credible evidence" for the allegation. Izzat al-Risheq, a Hamas official, denied that the group used the hospital as a shield for its underground military structures, saying there was no truth to the claims.
The 2023 Israel–Hamas war led to an intensive interrogation program by Israeli intelligence agencies, particularly Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet and IDF's Unit 504, targeting captured "Hamas militants". Following the sudden attack on 7 October, which killed more than 1,100 Israelis, alleged militants were captured in Israel. Israel has claimed that the interrogation of the suspects revealed significant insights into the group's strategies, ideologies, and operational methods that played a crucial role in Israel's military response and in shaping the global understanding of the conflict.
Security footage shows the two gunmen ambushing a Mazda and firing multiple shots into the vehicle. The bullet-ridden car rolls forward, the gate opens, and the men enter the kibbutz.