news warns against strong images in this article. Hamas has committed war crimes on Israeli soil, Israel says. The attack on 7 October is “a sandwich list of war crimes”, according to an expert. Israel commits war crimes in Gaza, the Palestinians respond. Hospitals risk becoming morgues, says the Red Cross about the siege of Gaza. What is legal in war – and what is forbidden? In this article you can read about: International Law Strong images and videos of killed civilians in Israel and civilians and children in Gaza. It is easy to conclude that war crimes have been committed. When war occurs, some human rights are set aside, but some rules are invariable. – The rules that are considered invariable even in war are international law. The core of this is the Geneva Convention. That’s what Tobias Köhler says. He is chief legal officer for international humanitarian law at the Red Cross. The Geneva Convention The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties that were drawn up in Geneva and are an important part of international humanitarian law. The First Geneva Convention was adopted in 1864, after the Battle of Solferino, in the war between Sardinia and France on one side and Austria on the other. Sanitation personnel and the lives of sick and wounded soldiers must be respected, it says. The Second Geneva Convention came about in 1906, as a result of the experiences of the naval war between Japan and Russia. And the first convention was extended to also apply to warfare at sea. The Third Geneva Convention came about in 1929, as a result of prisoners of war’s lack of rights and cruel suffering during the First World War. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 was a result of World War II, where about 50% of the victims were civilians. Source: Red Cross For the record: Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have approved the convention. Only Palestine is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC). All around Gaza are tanks and soldiers. An invasion has been announced. Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP – We are starting a complete siege of Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – everything is shut down, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a video statement on Monday. But a siege does not distinguish between the civilians and those who fight. In Gaza, every car is now converted into an ambulance. Half of the population in the Gaza Strip is under the age of 18. On Friday, Unicef reports that 447 children have lost their lives in Israeli attacks. Photo: Ali Mahmoud / AP Civilians transport injured civilians to full hospitals, which lack medicine. The Red Cross warned on Thursday that hospitals risk becoming morgues. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre condemns the siege. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt too. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news – I condemn this blockade. When they ask so many people to move and they don’t get access to food and medicine, then it is necessary. Using hunger as a weapon in war can be just as effective as bombs and grenades. Nor is it completely prohibited, according to international law. – Starving the civilian population is prohibited, but not starving combatants, says Cecilie Hellestveit to news. Hellestveit is a lawyer and social scientist with a doctorate in the international law of war. She currently works at the Folkerettsinstituttet. She considers the siege to be legal as of now. Cecilie Hellestveit is a lawyer and social scientist with a doctorate in the international law of war. Photo: Cicilie Sigrid Andersen / news The fact that Israel is expected to launch a ground invasion against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza is also the reason why they can attack so violently – with the law in hand. Even if it costs many thousands of innocent people their lives. She bases Israel’s explanation on it: – The military rationale gives the occupying power considerable leeway to prepare ground operations. Thus, it is the proportionality assessment in particular that will determine when this becomes illegal. – It will happen very quickly as the situation is in Gaza. Palestinians wounded in Israeli attacks are brought to the Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, October 11, 2023. Photo: Ali Mahmoud / AP It’s all about purpose, she explains. – If there is no plan to enter Gaza, both the blockade and the way the military attacks are carried out will be clear collective punishment. Chief legal officer Köhler adds that if a party to a conflict prevents basic rights from benefiting the civilian population, and this leads to civilians being starved, it is in violation of the international law of war. Before you read on, you should familiarize yourself with an important concept in international law, namely the principle of proportionality. That an attack is proportional means that: Possible civilian losses must be explained by possible military gains. Military necessity is weighed against humanitarian considerations. Weapons and methods must be chosen that avoid unnecessary civilian suffering and minimize civilian casualties. Tobias Köhler is chief legal officer for international humanitarian law at the Red Cross. – If the civilian losses are considered large, the military gains must justify this; it must be proportional, says Köhler. The Red Cross maintains a line of neutrality in any conflict, and Köhler therefore only answers on a general basis in this case. Gaza is the size of a medium-sized city in Europe, such as Vienna or Rotterdam. The city is also considered one of the world’s most densely populated areas. Over 2 million people, half of them children, live here. – In a city, or region, with a high population density, we see that international law is violated more often when large explosives are used. Hellestveit’s analysis is that these airstrikes are carried out to prepare for a ground invasion. She emphasizes that Israel is obliged to have a military justification and that the rule of proportionality is assessed for each attack. – If these attacks are not to be followed up by a ground invasion, the picture looks different. Then we are over to collective punishment. An Israeli soldier patrols a street in Sderot, a settlement close to the border with Gaza. Photo: YURI CORTEZ / AFP “Are you ready for the next step? The next stage is coming soon.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli soldiers outside the Gaza Strip on Saturday, his government said in a statement on Saturday. The attack from Israel will be a coordinated air, ground and sea offensive. Netanyahu with soldiers at the Gaza border. Photo: AVI OHION/NETANYAHU VIA X Experts news has spoken to believe that Israel will advance with large forces against Gaza, and clear the northern part first, quarter by quarter. When the war is going on in a city, it is difficult to avoid civilian casualties. Soldiers fighting in a city experience enormous stress. Often the roads are broken and difficult to move through. – It is perhaps the world’s most difficult combat environment, says Tormod Heier, professor at the Norwegian Defense College and former officer in the Army, to news. The enemy can be anywhere, and anywhere there can be explosive charges. Nevertheless, soldiers have a duty to do what they can to avoid and expose civilians to risk and suffering. That duty applies to the Israeli soldiers, but also to Hamas’ soldiers. Palestinians in Gaza City were given 24 hours on Friday morning to evacuate their homes and travel south on the Gaza Strip. Photo: MAHMUD HAMS / AFP Forced evacuation of the civilian population and war victims away from the conflict is “a duty and a right” Israel has as a belligerent party, Hellestveit points out. – Ordering the forced relocation of the civilian population is not enough, it must also be feasible and facilitated to the extent possible. In cars, on motorcycles and on foot, thousands of Palestinians left their homes on Friday. Just hours before, the UN was informed that Israel had ordered the evacuation of Palestinian civilians living north of the Wadi River in the Gaza Strip. The 1.1 million people had to get south of the river within the first 24 hours, Israel said. The UN criticized Israel’s order, the deadline made the operation to get the sick, injured, young and old to safety. The organization called it “terrible”. Photo: Hatem Moussa / AP After a forced recognition, Israel had to extend the deadline. But how much more time, we don’t know. The Israelis are experiencing a time pressure due to Israeli hostages in Palestinian captivity. Image of white phosphorus falling over Gaza City port, October 11, 2023. Photo: Mohammed Adeb / AFP via Getty Images Human Rights Watch has documented that Israel has used white phosphorus inside Gaza City in the past week. White phosphorus is a highly toxic substance that is prohibited for use in densely populated civilian areas. In contact with oxygen, white phosphorus starts to burn. In contact with the skin, white phosphorus causes deep burns – sometimes down to the bone. The use of firearms in civilian populated areas is prohibited under the Weapons Convention. Israel does not recognize the convention. But Israel is in any case bound by the general rules for munitions here. – Using phosphorus in attacks against people is prohibited, because it violates the ban on weapons that cause unnecessary suffering and unnecessary damage, says Hellestveit. In 2009, Israel attacked a UN school in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, with phosphorus bombs. The following year, Israel promised to limit the use of white phosphorus. Photo: MOHAMMED ABED / AFP Israel has, however, tightened its use considerably in recent years, according to the lawyer. The requirement for using phosphorus bombs is that they are only used to illuminate areas. – If it is used in other ways, we will soon be in the war crime category. Several thousand of Hamas’ rockets were fired on 7 October. Photo: Fatima Shbair / AP – Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel is almost a sandwich list of war crimes, says Hellestveit. Propaganda videos from Hamas are said to show the group training to attack on foot in facilities less than a kilometer from Israel’s heavily guarded border. And then, on Saturday 7 October, they attacked. First they fired 5,000 rockets. Then they attacked villages and kibbutzim. In the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on October 7, gruesome images and videos and stories abound. Much of it is taken out of context or manipulated, but this much we know: Hamas carried out direct attacks on civilians, hostage-taking of civilians and soldiers who have been put out of action, and using enemy uniforms to kill the enemy. – All obvious war crimes under the Geneva Conventions and the ICC Statutes, points out Hellestveit. Hamas fired at random passing cars. Photo: Reuters In addition, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have used hostages to immunize their own military targets in anticipation of a ground invasion. – That is also a war crime. This is how news covers the conflict in the Middle East Presence: news currently has two teams working in Israel and in the occupied West Bank. The teams consist of a journalist, a photographer and local employees. That presence is very important to get in touch with sources and get first-hand impressions after the very brutal attacks on civilians in Israel. Gaza: We are not in Gaza now. It is practically impossible because the border is closed and the usual border crossings were destroyed in the hostilities over the weekend. In any case, it is a demanding security situation that must be included in the assessment if the opportunity arises. We are therefore talking to sources inside Gaza and also have a local team that takes video and pictures for us. Balance: Our task is to bring out what is happening, not take a position in the conflict. We cover the war between Israel and Hamas as we cover other wars. This means that we are working to bring out different perspectives, sources and views on what is happening so that we in Norway can best understand the conflict. We must be open and accountable in our journalism, and correct when we make mistakes. We have a special task to describe and illuminate the consequences of warfare for civilians and individuals on both sides of the conflict. Concepts: We relate to the concepts of international international law in this conflict. This means, for example, that the West Bank is occupied and that the targeted killing of civilians is a war crime. Verification: There will be many images, information and videos via social media. Our job is to check this as best as possible before we publish. Much of what is talked about and shared on social media is not true. We must be as sure as we can that what we say and publish is correct. We use the time necessary for quality control before we possibly publish. Responsibility: As a public broadcaster, we have a special responsibility to cover developments in the world. That is why we prioritize presence through correspondents and photographers in the field, also in the current conflict. We are usually staffed by two permanent correspondents in the region. They have their permanent base in Beirut and Istanbul. Sigurd Falkenberg Mikkelsen, foreign affairs editor
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These are the rules that apply in war – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
