• donuts@kbin.social
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    1 年前

    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.

      • TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.world
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        1 年前

        I don’t think any intellectually honest person that supports Palestine thinks Hamas are the “good guys”, they are an evil created and grown directly and indirectly by Israel’s actions.

          • EndlessApollo@lemmy.world
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            1 年前

            Who is doing that? Who is saying it’s justifiable for Hamas to use a hospital as a base? The only thing remotely close to that I’ve seen is people saying that a group like Hamas is an inevitable byproduct of Israeli occupation. Everyone knows putting a garrison in a hospital is shit, what’s disturbing is how many people think that justifies murdering every civilian in there

            • Madison420@lemmy.world
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              1 年前

              It’s the only place they could make a garrison, any other building Israel even remotely thinks is related to terrorism is summarily obliterated. If you leave people two options and one isn’t plausible you can’t be all too surprised they choose the other option.

              The US spent 20 fucking years fighting in Afghanistan which also had hospital garrisons, I don’t seem to remember a pattern or practice of leveling them though. In fact the hospital that was destroyed kicked off a three party international review, the us apologized and paid the families. Israel on thee other hand said fuck it let’s go bomb hospitals.

              • Madison420@lemmy.world
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                1 年前

                That’s understanding not justification. Saying they get why it was done is not at all the same as saying it’s morally or logically correct.

                It specifically does not remove protections, it makes limited military intervention legal. I agree with the rest but that phrasing makes it seem like anything is on the table when it isn’t.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 年前

        Hi there. How about an old soldier who actually had to know this stuff and use that knowledge in a war?

        First off, a single incident isn’t enough. A sniper or even a squad doing stuff can be dealt with in other ways. In order to strike a hospital (or any protected target) with explosives you need evidence it’s a target of “military or strategic value”. This is why Israel isn’t just claiming a few sporadic attacks but instead that all of the hospitals are actually command centers.

        Second, the protected target can only be hit by proportional force that accomplishes a specific goal. If there’s an artillery battery in the parking lot and I level the obstetrics wing with dumb bombs then I’ve committed a war crime. Smart bombs with very low yields absolutely exist. Another example is the eponymous claim of rooftop rockets. I can hit that with an airburst explosive to prevent structural damage to most concrete buildings. In the context of protected targets these things matter. You don’t get a green light to demolish it unless it’s basically been hollowed out for military use only.

        Third, whoever fires on the protected target is responsible for providing the evidence it was required. And war crimes investigators take a very dim view of “they did it once a decade ago”, as a reason. Israel and it’s allies have yet to do anything that actually proves the existence of a military or strategic target in places like the UNRWA Gaza headquarters.

        • Vqhm@lemmy.world
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          1 年前

          While proportionality is in LOAC, if there is ample intelligence that the hospital is being used to commit attacks, it doesn’t have to be used exclusively to commit attacks to be a legal target.

          Rule 28. Medical units exclusively assigned to medical purposes must be respected and protected in all circumstances. They lose their protection if they are being used, outside their humanitarian function, to commit acts harmful to the enemy.

          https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule28#:~:text=to medical units-,Rule 28.,and protected in all circumstances.

          “the protection of medical units ceases when they are being used, outside their humanitarian function, to commit acts harmful to the enemy. This exception is provided for in the First and Fourth Geneva Conventions and in both Additional Protocols.[37] It is contained in numerous military manuals and military orders.[38] It is also supported by other practice.[39]”

          “While the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols do not define “acts harmful to the enemy”, they do indicate several types of acts which do not constitute “acts harmful to the enemy”, for example, when the personnel of the unit is armed, when the unit is guarded, when small arms and ammunition taken from the wounded and sick are found in the unit and when wounded and sick combatants or civilians are inside the unit.[40] According to the Commentary on the First Geneva Convention, examples of acts harmful to the enemy include the use of medical units to shelter able-bodied combatants, to store arms or munitions, as a military observation post or as a shield for military action.”

          And that’s before we get into the creative reinterpreting of LOAC for terrorists in non- international armed conflicts fought by non-state insurgent groups which were invented post 9-11.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            1 年前

            I never said it had to be in exclusive use to get fired on.

            I did say the party firing on the hospital needs to provide evidence that each hospital, at each time, was a legal target. “I said so” doesn’t pass muster.

        • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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          1 年前

          My friend, they celebrate an airstrike with multiple rocket enough to create a crater few meter wide, using it on a human target, inside a crowded refugee camp. They certainly will not listen to any reasoning.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          1 年前

          First off, a single incident isn’t enough.

          This is not an isolated incident.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            1 年前

            We don’t even have evidence of a single incident.

            And before you reply with LoOk At ThE ViDeO!11

            That’s one guy. In the street outside a hospital. That in no way justifies anything other than the infantry going by to check it out and help the doctors. One guy with an RPG (not the sensationalist ATGM setup the headline would have us believe) is nowhere near the evidence required to drop ordinance on a hospital.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            1 年前

            I’m older than you think. I was in the 2003 Iraq invasion. And I was specifically a mortarman. I have vivid memories of listening to the fires net and the Battalion coordinator asking for exact details and then us getting exact fire mission specifics to minimize damage. ( A normal mission would be something like all guns fire 10 rounds of ground det HE as fast as possible. These missions were more like our best gun firing one airburst or smoke at a time.) The thing is, those details are all recorded because you have to be able to account for every mission fired on a protected target. They wouldn’t be sensitive either, not the parts about how exactly Hamas is using the building as reported by units on the ground. The reporting method is known and Hamas’ tactics are something they want to show the world.

            It’s the absence of these reports along with the completely lackluster post battle evidence that has me wondering what the hell the Israelis are doing.

      • Madison420@lemmy.world
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        1 年前

        It doesn’t give them the right to bomb the hospital point blank period, proportionality clauses kick in and it’s arguably reason to ground assault it but they cannot ignore the civilian cost of life when they’re are other ways to go about clearing the garrison.

        Ed: Jesus Christ, 3 seconds on Google prior just can’t seem to do.

        The principle of proportionality prohibits attacks against military objectives which are “expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”. In other words, the principle of proportionality seeks to limit damage caused by military operations by requiring that the effects of the means and methods of warfare used must not be disproportionate to the military advantage sought.

          • Madison420@lemmy.world
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            1 年前

            No the fuck they don’t!

            You just ain’t right bud, do some fucking reading before you spout Israeli talking points.

            The principle of proportionality prohibits attacks against military objectives which are “expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”. In other words, the principle of proportionality seeks to limit damage caused by military operations by requiring that the effects of the means and methods of warfare used must not be disproportionate to the military advantage sought.

              • Madison420@lemmy.world
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                1 年前

                https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/proportionality

                The principle of proportionality prohibits attacks against military objectives which are “expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”. In other words, the principle of proportionality seeks to limit damage caused by military operations by requiring that the effects of the means and methods of warfare used must not be disproportionate to the military advantage sought.

                Same source, you know that’s theres like thousands of laws in relation to war correct?

                I don’t know better boss, but I can use the search bar and read, you don’t need much more than that to know you’re objectively wrong and your source agrees.

          • prole@sh.itjust.works
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            1 年前

            Lol “garrisoned”. This isn’t Age of Empires. Gaza is one of the most densely populated area on the planet. They have no freedom of movement, and the area is completely blockaded. Anywhere anyone in that area tries to stage a defense is a “civilian area.” They’re literally prohibited from having anything else.

            So there is nowhere they could defend from that you wouldn’t consider “human shield.”

            But you know that.

            Edit: Corrected. Because fascist apologists love getting honest interlocutors hung up on semantics. I misspoke, and it’s “just” one of the most densely populated areas. Because that changes my argument in any real way whatsoever.

              • prole@sh.itjust.works
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                1 年前

                I know what the word means. If you want to get all semantic about it, Hamas isn’t a “military force,” they’re an insurgency. I’m not sure an insurgency “garrisons”.

            • Apollo@sh.itjust.works
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              1 年前

              Gaza is not even close to being the most densely populated area on the planet, what is your source for that?

              Also have you seen a map of gaza? There are many open areas hamas could use to launch attacks from, but it chooses (rather rationally I might add) to site its materiel in places where israeli retaliation will cause civillian casualties.

              • prole@sh.itjust.works
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                1 年前

                I apologize that I forgot to add “one of the” before “most.” The point still stands.

                Oh, you looked at a map of Gaza, and because of that you are an expert on the land and you know the best strategic locations for them to set up? Fuck off.

                Israel made an open-air prison, and when a group of extremists react, they bomb the entire fucking prison (strangely aiming at the hospitals, and the areas where they instructed refugees to go).

                Edit: After re-reading this comment, i’d like to correct something. I don’t think it’s even accurate to say Israel created an open-air prison, or to call Gaza a prison. The word “prison” heavily implies that the people there did something to deserve their punishment. I wonder if anyone could let me know all the terrorist acts those Gazan children performed… Was it “throwing rocks at IDF”? Because that’s usually punishable by death.

              • Madison420@lemmy.world
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                1 年前

                Open areas, you know! Those places everyone can see, who needs operational security when you have all that room for activities!

                  • Madison420@lemmy.world
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                    1 年前

                    Hedging doesn’t change your idiotic point. No one uses open areas because… They’re open fucking areas. It’s like saying “why don’t you go play baseball in that lake over there.”

      • donuts@kbin.social
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        1 年前

        Sadly I think there’s just an overwhelming tendency for bias to make people think “everything my side does is right and everything the other side does is wrong”.

        Random people on the internet, many of whom are mostly (if not entirely) detached from realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and may only just be learning about it for the first time from social media, have now formed ranks and picked a side that feels right in the moment. I’d ask people to resist the urge to do that, and instead take some time to read into the complete history of the region and the conflict, but I think it’s much easier to go along with what other people on the net/TV/radio/etc are shouting.

        People should keep in mind that there’s a 3rd side to every conflict: the side of the innocent people who have found themselves caught in the middle of an armed conflict that they never wanted or asked for. The Israeli student who was shot to death at a festival, the old Palestinian woman whose family were buried alive in a knocked-down building, the young child who was taken hostage by Hamas scared and alone, and the Gaza teenager who has lost all possibility of the normal, peaceful life and education that so many of us take for granted. Their side is the only side that anyone should be on. And it’s those very innocent civilians who Hamas are knowingly putting in danger by treating them as human shields in a way that openly invites retaliation.

        When you stop to think for a minute about what’s really going on here, and when you’ve taken even the bare minimum amount of time to read up on the history of this conflict (one of the longest-running geopolitical conflicts in modern history), it’s not hard to understand that both sides really do have blood on their hands. There are no “good guys” other than the people who have managed to stay innocent, and as the conflict goes on and the desire for revenge burns in people’s hearts, eventually some of those people will become “bad guys” too.

        And that’s just a very sad thing, because if nothing else it means that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

            • Madison420@lemmy.world
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              1 年前

              University of Delaware

              Biden attended the University of Delaware in Newark, where he was more interested in sports and socializing than in studying,[15] although his classmates were impressed by his cramming abilities.[33] He played halfback with the “Blue Chicks” freshman football team (at the time, freshmen were not eligible to play varsity sports).[25][26] However, when he got a poor 1.9 grade point average for the semester, his parents told him that he had to give up football to concentrate on his classes.[26] He continued to get mostly “C” and “D” grades for his next two semesters.[34] His grades then began to improve, but never became especially good.[34] He wanted to return to the football, and by the spring practices of his junior year he thought he was about to earn a starting spot as a defensive back on the varsity for that fall.[25][35][26]

              It’s literally wikipedia dude, the university of Delaware says the same, but do go on, who’s your source.

                • Madison420@lemmy.world
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                  1 年前

                  I told you wiki, I need not link it as I’m certain you’ve the ability to type.

                  Similarly it contains many sources and you’ve as of yet not proved any part of your claim, you’ve not even provided a source that backs up your “lol biden didn’t graduate” claim, dudes an asshole but he graduated from college and law school. The fuck are you huffing?

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      1 年前

      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.

    • satan@r.nf
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      1 年前

      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.