• donuts@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    To be clear, staging militant attacks from a hospital is a war crime.
    To make matters worse, it opens up the likelihood and justification of counter-attacks against that hospital and the people in it.

    According to international humanitarian law (IHL), health establishments and units, including hospitals, should not be attacked. This protection extends to the wounded and sick as well as to medical staff and means of transport. The rule has few exceptions.

    Specific protection of medical establishments and units (including hospitals) is the general rule under IHL. Therefore, specific protection to which hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used by a party to the conflict to commit, outside their humanitarian functions, an “act harmful to the enemy”.

    Medical establishments and units enjoy protection because of their function of providing care for the wounded and sick. When they are used to interfere directly or indirectly in military operations, and thereby cause harm to the enemy, the rationale for their specific protection is removed. This would be the case for example if a hospital is used as a base from which to launch an attack; as an observation post to transmit information of military value; as a weapons depot; as a center for liaison with fighting troops; or as a shelter for able-bodied combatants.

    Source: The International Committee of the Red Cross

    Nobody should beat around the bush here. Hamas are using injured civilians as a human shield to stage attacks, and in doing so they are inviting retaliation and suffering under well-establish terms of international law. There’s not really any particular gray area here. It’s horrible, it’s unethical, it’s criminal, and it’s just plain wrong.

    • Zaktor
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      1 year ago

      Ok, let’s send them to the Hague I guess? Why do you think this is an important point? Hamas isn’t actually a legitimate organization that signed on to international law and would ever care what “legitimate warfare” is. They just went into Israel and murdered a bunch of civilians. If these fighters are caught whether the UN thinks they were wrong is the least of their problems.

      And none of that makes Israel attacking a hospital (or just the blatant collective punishment) justified.

      • steventhedev@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Except it literally does justify attacking the hospital. Black on white, letter and spirit of the law.

        • Zaktor
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          1 year ago

          No it doesn’t, and you’re a shitty person for thinking that.

          • khalic@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Just because you don’t like something doesn’t make it wrong. They’re right about legitimate targets regarding conflict rules

            • Zaktor
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              1 year ago

              “Whether it’s ok to bomb a hospital” isn’t a legal question.

              • khalic@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                We aren’t discussing if “it’s ok”, we are discussing the Rules of Conflict. War is never ok, but war without rules is even worse

                • Zaktor
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                  1 year ago

                  Except it literally does justify attacking the hospital.

                  “Justified” and “legal” are two separate judgements. OP wants to conflate them to excuse an unjust act.

    • ???@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Proximity shielfing isn’t really the classic human shield idea. It’s like “human shields*” with an asterisk and six paragraphs of footnotes showing how countries like Israel use the idea of proximity shielding to commit human rights violations untouched.

    • satan@r.nf
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      1 year ago

      How many war criminals from US, Russia have been charged and are rotting in jail? Bush, Obama, Trump? or does this law only apply when you want to use PR for your war contractors against brown people?

      “According to international humanitarian law” my ass.