While Israeli forces appear to be slow-walking their already-announced ground offensive in the Gaza Strip - the densely-populated Palestinian enclave where Hamas militants are holding dozens of Israeli hostages captured during the October 7 raids – they continue to incessantly pound the city with artillery and air strikes, which are apparently indiscriminate given the civilian casualties resulting from these actions.
Though Israel is obviously justified in exercising its right to self-defense in response to the initial carnage by Hamas, Israeli forces must still abide by international humanitarian law while conducting their armed response, argues Hurst Hannum, Professor of International Law at Emeritus Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
“Violations of the laws of war by one side do not justify retaliatory violations by the other side. Thus, Israeli attacks on Gaza, whether by air or land, must distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, and any military actions must be proportional to the legitimate purpose that they seek to achieve,” he told Sputnik.
Hannum criticized the actions of both Israel and Hamas, calling out the Palestinian militants over their seizure of Israeli hostages – which he branded as “a continuing war crime” – and insisting that the “total siege of Gaza imposed by Israel is clearly prohibited” under international humanitarian law since “it will disproportionately harm civilian residents” of the enclave.
Meanwhile, a convoy of some 20 trucks laden with the much-needed humanitarian aid were able to enter the Gaza Strip on Saturday via the Rafah checkpoint located on the border between the Palestinian enclave and Egypt.
On Sunday night, another cargo of humanitarian aid was brought into the Gaza Strip via the same route, transported in a convoy consisting of some 14 trucks.
Commenting on this development, independent Middle East strategic intelligence analyst Avi Melamed remarked that this was to be expected since Israel and its allies, just like the Arab states, want to “prevent” a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“I mean, that was very clearly one of the major issues that was discussed and the need to make sure that there wouldn't be a situation of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Melamed did note, however, that the prospects of additional humanitarian aid delivery routes into Gaza being opened seem unlikely, considering that the Gaza Strip basically has two major entry points (as far as travel by land is concerned): the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt and the Erez crossing that allows people to move between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
“And so Rafah crossing is the major crossing point because obviously right now the Erez crossing, it does not operate following the attack of Hamas because they destroyed it. They destroyed the crossing,” Melamed explained. “And obviously Israel is not going to reopen it, and it's not going to enable Palestinians to go to work in Israel, not after the Hamas attack. So currently the major crossing is actually the Rafah crossing,” he clarified.
He also admitted that he is not certain whether the humanitarian aid delivered via the aforementioned convoys would be enough to satisfy the needs of the Gaza Strip denizens.
“I mean, I don't know to say what the needs are. You know, what's the trucks are loaded with and all those things. I definitely just don't know what to say. So I can't really refer to that,” he elaborated.