Case Studies in the Law of War:
Israel and Hamas

We'll discuss what the law of war is and where it comes from, with a focus on its foundational text, the Geneva Conventions.

We'll discuss international armed conflict, non-international armed conflict, and whether the conflict between Israel and Hamas is a "war" in which international law applies, or merely gang violence in which only domestic law applies. 

We'll discuss the meaning of statehood under international law, and compare/contrast Palestine to similar cases of de jure or de facto states, such as Taiwan, Tibet, Kosovo, and Kurdistan.

We'll discuss the law of occupation, and the positions that the international community takes on how it applies to the West Bank, Gaza, and if time permits, the Golan Heights.

We'll discuss the meaning of siege warfare, the prohibition on subjecting civilians to it, and the international community's positions on if and how it applies to Gaza.

We'll discuss the right to use armed force in self-defense, the limitations on that right, and what these rights and limitations mean to Israel and Hamas.

We'll discuss the requirement to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, the ways that insurgents have learned to blur that key distinction, and whether the laws of war help or hurt counter-insurgency operations. 

We'll discuss the principle of proportionality and what it means to use force disproportionately, then apply that principle to some of the most headline-grabbing incidents in the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict so far. Included in this is an analysis of ethnic cleansing and genocide as war crimes.

Claims of collective punishment often come hand-in-hand with the armed conflicts between Israel and Hamas. We'll discuss what the Geneva Conventions says about "collective penalties," and how that law is distinguishable from sanctions, diplomatic isolation, armed force, and other coercive actions that all, by their nature, collectively harm a population.

Listed as a grave offense in the Geneva Conventions, the crime of genocide is perhaps the most severe, most notorious of all war crimes. It goes undefined in the Geneva Conventions, but other statutes and case law help shine a light on what the law of genocide is and how it applies, both in times of peace and in times of war.