War Crimes : Attacks cannot justify Collective Punishment of Palestine People – UN Secretary General
- Vineet Malik
- Oct 22, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2023
By Vineet Malik | October 22, 2023 | London, England
The United Nations after witnessing horrifying killing of innocent civilians in Gaza finally breaks silence
The most inhuman incident of firing shells on Al Ahli Hospital on 17 October in Gaza took away the lives of more than 500 patients admitted for getting cured.
However, Israel has put a blame on Palestine while Palestinians are blaming Israel.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says “I am fully aware of the deep grievances of the Palestinian people after 56 years of occupation. But as serious as these grievances committed by Hamas on 7 October that I immediately condemned, but those attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
War Crimes: The Prohibition Against Targeting Civilians
A fundamental rule of International Humanitarian Law is that civilians must enjoy general protection against danger arising from military operations. The rule of civilian immunity is one of "the oldest fundamental maxims" of International Customary Law, meaning that it is binding on all parties to a conflict, regardless of whether a conflict is international or non-international in character. Non-state parties to a conflict are also obliged to respect the norms of customary International Law.
At all times, it is forbidden to direct attacks against civilians; indeed, to attack civilians intentionally while aware of their civilian status is a war crime.
It is thus an imperative duty for an attacker to identify and distinguish non-combatants from combatants in every situation.
In addition to its status as established customary law, the principle of civilian immunity has been codified in numerous treaties.
One of the clearest expressions of the principle is set out in article 51(2) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which states:
The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence, the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population, are prohibited.
By deliberately targeting civilians, suicide bombing attacks clearly violate this most fundamental rule of the laws of war.
The prohibition against targeting civilians holds in all circumstances, including when a party undertakes such attacks in retaliation for attacks on its own civilians.
The Principle of distinction between Civilian and Military targets is enshrined in Article 48 of Protocol I :
In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants, and between civilian objects and military objectives, and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.
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