Is the total blockade of the Gaza strip by Israel considered a war crime under international law?

Hamas is not a person; it is the Islamic Resistance Movement. And, as an organization that controls Gaza, they are the ones that decided to attack civilians in Israel in a most brutal fashion.

So no, the siege of Gaza is not a war crime.

You cannot blame the closure of the border with Egypt on Israel. That was decided by Egypt

@zenvelo: Israel was probably fully aware Egypt would’ve done that. Didnt’t say anything. Here’s what I found after a bit of research, won’t say where:

‘After the fall of the ottomans, the British delegated [Egypt] eventually to its own government, which became a puppet state, which became controlled directly by the Egyptian government over time. However, the main border line was never considered the territory line, so it technically was as Israeli as Egyptian. ’

@luigirovatti You are citing references to the Israeli Egyptian border that is over a hundred years old, and predates the partition in 1948. You are also ignoring the history of the area during the 1954 war the 1967 war, the 1973 war, and the Camp David Accords which defined the border between Israel and Sinai.

Why bring that up? Why should Israel say anything?

@zenvelo: It’s just a quote, it’s not mine. Anyway, Israel issued that ultimatum. If what you say is true, it’ll drive the Palestinians further south and maybe Egypt will welcome them. After all, it offered to act as mediator between Hamas-Israel. I know right now it isn’t, but either a en masse migration or genocide are the possible scenarios.

…is that Israel issued an ultimatum in which it intimated the Palestinians on the north to move to the south

What? Israel is warning people in the north to go south to get farther away from the upcoming military mission where Israelis soldiers will be going into Gaza to kill Hamas leaders and try to get back some of the hostages who were taken.

Israel certainly hasn’t done everything right the last 70 years, but what can they do? They have a right to protect their borders. Hamas does not accept Israel as a country at all.

Israel has to get rid of the extremists, because the Palestinians can’t do it for themselves.

Does it matter?

The UN and the ICC (International Criminal Court) have stacked the deck against Israel for 50+ years, to the point that the UN Human Rights Committee holds a session every fall to castigate Israel (and ignores human rights abuses in the rest of the world).

Organizations like Amnesty International have been anti-Israel since its founding. It’s in their blood.

So the concept of war crimes is spurious at best, because the countries and organizations that would be passing judgment are tainted and have been for decades. If I were Israel, I would simply ignore any discussion of war crimes because the outcome is preordained.

Why not support war crimes accusations against Hamas? After all, they slaughtered 1000+ people this past week? Or does that not fit the prevailing narrative?

I wouldn’t call a siege a war crime if humanitarian aid is allowed to come in and they do not allow people to starve and get necessary medical care. But it is bad. Israel, for a minute, had the moral high ground when Hamas came in and beheaded toddlers. They are losing it, however, and they have to play this very carefully. If they do allow civilians to starve and die because they don’t have access to medical care then yes, I would call it a war crime.

@elbanditoroso Is it a war crime to settle occupied territory? Is it a war crime to engage in collective punishment? Is it a war crime to use disproportionate force in response to violence? Is it a war crime to deny civilians basic human rights?

“Why not support war crimes accusations against Hamas?”

I certainly do support war crime charges against Hamas.

In strictly technical terms – No.

In Article 42 of the Charter of the United Nations, as ratified in 1945, the United Nations Security Council declared blockades a legal action that may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security.
https://reference.jrank.org/security/Blockades.html

In the present action against Hamas in Gaza, Israel responded to an armed attack against both military and civilians within it’s territory by state sponsored forces under direction of a hostile government. Israel declared itself to be at war, and stated that it’s goal was to counterattack and destroy organized militants that were deliberately embedded in the civilian population in Gaza.

In these circumstances a blockade will be recognized as legal under applicable international law.

I wouldn’t think so. Hamas effectively declare war on Israel. At that point many actions that might have been considered wrong suddenly can become ok. Yes, it is true not all Palestinians are Hamas, nor do they necessarily all support them or their actions. Yet the same could be said about civilians in every war. We put sanctions in place against Russia when they invaded Ukraine. That is an effort to strangle their economy which will hurt the civilian population. It is not a war crime.

“Targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure with the clear aim to cut off men, women, children [from] water, electricity, and heating with the winter coming, these are acts of pure terror and we have to call it as such,” von der Leyen said.

But that was last year, when Russa did it to Ukraine.

As Konrad Adenauer famously said: “Was kümmert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

It actually doesn’t matter. The popular guy will win, and the underdog will lose.

@caravanfan
Good for you for acknowledging that, since it’s current it actually matters now.

@Blackberry I’m sorry, what do you mean “good for you for acknowledging that”. Acknowledging what? Why did you write that?

@Caravanfan You used the festival deaths to deflect from negative treatment of Palestinians and claimed it was bringing up old stuff.

@Blackberry That’s what I was afraid of. You’ve got it backwards. People were using prior negative treatment of Palestinians as excuse for the festival massacres and toddler beheadings. I was merely pointing it out, and then got attacked and got called all kinds of names.

But the reality is that I actually have very nuanced views on the subject and am generally pro-Palestinian. It was the terrorist organization Hamas who committed the massacres. Not the Palestinian poplulation.

I was thinking about the Q again. The Israeli government and military of course consult with lawyers as they plan their military maneuvers and attack to do their best to stay within the parameters of the Geneva convention.

If you think about whether Israel is hitting back harder than they were hit, what do you want Israel to do? Rape, shoot, and set fire to civilians to be equal to what Hamas did? All day long there are missiles or rockets (I am not sure what to call them) being fired at Israel, so is it ok for Israel to retaliate in the same way?

It is horrible that some innocent Palestinians are being hurt and killed, including children. Of course there are children, half the population in Gaza is under 18.

Hamas did it on purpose, they want Israel to retaliate, but this time I think Hamas went too far.

@JLeslie I’m not sure it matters how gentle (or not gentle) the Israeli response is. Two reasons:

1) haters are going to criticize Israel no matter what. Israel could hand out purple lollipops and they would be criticized by large portions of the world. So who gives a shit?

2) most of the western world has deemed Hamas a terrorist organization. I doubt many tears will be shed if Hamas is destroyed completely.

Have you noticed that Saudi Arabia isn’t defending the Palestinians (yet)? Saudi Arabia has a lot to lose if Israel is hurt.

@elbanditoroso I was just talking about the Saudis on another Q. I figure Hamas hit now because Saudi Arabia was negotiating with Israel.

As far as I know, the Arab countries that typically might step in to try to help calm things down have been fairly silent.

I heard BBC and New York Times will not call Hamas a terrorist organization, because that would be too biased or something like that. I think it was Piers Morgan that said it, I would have to go back to some of the videos I watched. If that is true, give me a f**king break.

I hope Israel can accomplish severely weakening Hamas quickly. God willing there are still hostages alive and not badly hurt, but after what Hamas already did, I have little hope. Anyone who is alive has probably been tortured in some way or another. I had nightmares last night, My thoughts were plagued with the news reports.