The allegations of war crimes against Israel have been examined one by one.

10.06.2025 19:11

Discussions about allegations of war crimes and violations of international law regarding Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip are ongoing. BBC Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen, in his latest article, highlighted striking details on how the rules of war have been disregarded since October 7, 2023, particularly concerning the protection of civilians and the obstruction of humanitarian aid.

Allegations of war crimes and violations of international law regarding Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip are intensifying day by day.

ALLEGATIONS OF WAR CRIMES AGAINST ISRAEL UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

A column written by BBC Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen examines the events since October 7, 2023, highlighting that there are rules even in war and how these rules have been disregarded in Gaza.

During this period, when issues such as the protection of civilians, the obstruction of humanitarian aid, and famine have resonated greatly within the international community, the defenses of the Netanyahu government and the changing attitudes of Western allies draw attention. The article supports the situation in Gaza with statistics, includes assessments from international law experts regarding allegations of "genocide" and "crimes against humanity," and raises important questions about the legal consequences of Israel's actions.

The article titled "The response governments give today will haunt them for years" written by Bowen is as follows:

"EVEN WARS HAVE RULES"

"As on October 7, 2023, the fact that one side of the war has faced a surprise attack that killed hundreds of civilians does not exempt that side from the rules of war. The protection of civilians is a legal obligation in war planning. At least theoretically, the Geneva Conventions provide such a basis. The latest version of the convention, which emerged after World War II, aimed to prevent barbarism and massacres against civilians from happening again. The phrase 'Even Wars Have Rules' is written in large letters at the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. This reminder is timely, as we are in a time when rules are being violated.

Getting information from Gaza is very difficult. This is a deadly war zone. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 181 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began, almost all of whom are Palestinians in Gaza. Israel does not allow international news teams to enter Gaza. The best way to verify controversial and difficult stories is to check them firsthand. However, the fog created by this war is much denser than anything I have seen in all my war reporting experience. It is very clear that Israel wants this.

A few days after October 7, I was among a group of journalists escorted by Israeli soldiers in the border area attacked by Hamas. Rescue workers were still pulling Israeli bodies from the smoking ruins, and Israeli soldiers were clashing with Hamas militants in the buildings. Israel wanted us to see what Hamas was doing. But now it does not want foreign reporters to see what is happening in Gaza.

In this fog, I am heading to the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva to find an alternative route to protect civilians and to draw a path based on the laws that should protect them. I spoke with humanitarian workers who have years of experience working within the framework of laws to deliver aid to Gaza and other war zones. I asked senior Western diplomats about their governments' increasing impatience with Israel and reminded them that if they do not speak about the disaster in Gaza, they could be seen as accomplices in future criminal investigations.

There is a widespread belief, both in Israel and in Europe, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war not to protect Israelis, but to protect the ultra-nationalist coalition that keeps him in power. As the war drags on, he may be able to obstruct a national inquiry into his role in security failures before October 7 and slow down the process regarding corruption allegations against him.

'ANTI-SEMITISM' NARRATIVE

Netanyahu rarely gives interviews or answers questions. He prefers to send messages via video on social media. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar also rejected our request for an interview for this article. Boaz Bismuth, a parliamentarian from Netanyahu's Likud party, echoes Netanyahu's views: claiming that there is no famine in Gaza and that Israel respects the laws of war. Bismuth argues that criticisms of Israel's stance from countries like the UK, France, and Canada are 'unfounded' and claims that these criticisms incite anti-Semitic attacks. Lawyers I spoke with believe there is evidence that Israel has committed many war crimes, including genocide. It is clear that there are difficult questions that Israel must answer, and these will not go away.

Israel is also being tried for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Moreover, Netanyahu is a prime minister under travel restrictions due to an arrest warrant issued against him. Rival politicians within Israel accuse Netanyahu of leading war crimes and turning Israel into a 'pharaoh state.' Benjamin Netanyahu reacted by recalling the case of Alfred Dreyfus, a symbol of anti-Semitism in France in 1890, when an arrest warrant was issued against him.

EVIDENCE IN NUMBERS

The evidence of what is happening in Gaza starts with numbers. On October 7, 2023, Hamas entered Israel and killed 1,200 people. More than 800 of these were Israeli civilians. The others were members of Israeli security forces, first responders, and foreign workers. About 250 people, including non-Israelis, were taken hostage and brought back to Gaza.

Although there are slight differences in the numbers, it is believed that there are 54 hostages remaining in Gaza, and that 31 of them are dead. Identifying all Palestinian casualties in Gaza is much more difficult.

Israel is restricting movements within Gaza, and access to the northern part of the region is largely limited. The latest figures from the Gaza Health Ministry show that Israel has killed at least 54,607 Palestinians and injured 125,341 from October 7, 2023, until June 4 of this year. These figures do not distinguish between civilians and members of Hamas and other armed groups. According to UNICEF, by January of this year, 14,500 Palestinian children had been killed by Israel; 17,000 were separated from their parents or orphaned, and Gaza has the highest rate of child amputations in the world.

Israel and the U.S. have tried to cast doubt on the casualty figures provided by the Hamas-controlled health ministry. However, Hamas's figures are also based on reports from the United Nations, foreign diplomats, and even news in the Israeli media, according to the country's own intelligence services. The estimates of the Gaza Health Ministry's statisticians regarding casualty data were consistent with estimates from previous wars. In fact, a study published in the medical journal The Lancet indicates that the number of dead is even higher than reported. It is believed that there are thousands of bodies in the rubble of destroyed buildings. Thousands of others are also expected to die slowly from diseases that could have been treated.

ARMING FOOD

Civilians in Gaza caught a brief respite during the ceasefire earlier this year. However, when negotiations for a long-term ceasefire failed, Israel resumed the war with a series of major airstrikes on March 18. Throughout the war, Israel imposed serious restrictions on food and aid shipments to Gaza, completely blocking shipments from March to May of this year.

While Gaza is on the brink of famine, it is clear that Israel is violating laws that state civilians should be protected, not starved. A minister from the British government stated in an interview with the BBC that Israel is using hunger "as a weapon of war." Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also explicitly stated that the food blockade is "the main pressure tool" for Hamas to release hostages and accept defeat. Weaponizing food is a war crime.

'HUMANITY HAS FAILED'

War always involves brutality. I was in Geneva to see the president of the ICRC, Swiss diplomat Mirjana Spoljaric. Spoljaric believes that things could get even worse. According to her, both sides are "undoubtedly" disregarding the Geneva Conventions, which sends a message that the rules of war can be ignored in conflicts around the world. Spoljaric warns, "We are hollowing out the rules that protect people's fundamental rights."

We are speaking in a room with one of Europe's most serene views. For Spoljaric, the view of Gaza, far beyond the Alps, is concerning. Having visited Gaza twice since October 7, Spoljaric says that what is happening is worse than hell. She states, "Humanity is failing in Gaza: We cannot continue to watch what is happening. What is happening exceeds all acceptable, legal, moral, and humanitarian standards." Spoljaric points out that the world is watching as the dignity of Palestinians is stripped away.

I ask her about Israel's claim that it is "acting in self-defense to eliminate a terrorist organization that attacked and killed its people on October 7." She responds, "This cannot be a justification for disrespecting or hollowing out the Geneva Conventions." "No side is allowed to violate the rules, no matter what. This is important because the same rules apply to every person under the Geneva Conventions," she continues: "According to the Geneva Conventions, a child in Gaza has the same protection as a child in Israel."

Mirjana Spoljaric spoke calmly and with great clarity. The ICRC sees itself as a neutral organization; it aims to work equally with all parties in conflicts. It is deeply concerned about the damage to these rights due to the disregard for the rules of war in Gaza.

"WE WILL TURN IT INTO RUBBLE"

On the evening of October 7, 2023, while Israeli soldiers were clashing to drive Hamas militants out of border settlements, Benjamin Netanyahu sent a video message to the Israeli people and the world. His words hinted at how the war would be conducted and how they would respond to criticisms of Israel's military choices. "We will destroy them and take strong revenge for this dark day they have brought upon the State of Israel and its citizens. We will turn all the places where Hamas is stationed, hiding, and operating, that evil city, into rubble."

Netanyahu praised the allies gathered around Israel, congratulating the U.S., France, and the UK for their "unconditional support." He stated that he spoke with them "to ensure freedom of movement." However, there are legal limits to freedom of movement in war. States can conduct wars, but this war must be proportional to the threat they face and must protect civilian lives.

Janina Dill, a professor of global security at the Blavatnik School of Oxford University, states, "You never have the right to violate the laws."

The way Israel conducts this war is a completely separate legal analysis topic. Meanwhile, the same applies to the resistance against the occupation. The October 7 attack was not an appropriate use of the right to resist the occupation [by Hamas]. "In other words, you may generally have the right to self-defense or resistance. However, how you exercise that right is subject to separate rules. And having a legal reason in war does not grant you permission to use additional violence. The rules regarding how wars are conducted apply to everyone, regardless of the reasons for being at war."

The time spent in war and the deaths make a significant difference. Twenty months after Netanyahu's speech, Israel has exhausted its credit among many friends in Europe and Canada. Israel has always had its critics and enemies. The current difference is that some countries and individuals who see themselves as friends and allies no longer support Israel's way of fighting. In particular, the restrictions on food aid, which reputable international assessments say have brought Gaza to the brink of famine, and the increasing evidence of war crimes against Palestinian civilians have played a significant role in this situation.

Jan Egeland, the former humanitarian aid director of the UN and president of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told me, "I am very shaken": "I have never seen a population trapped for so long in such a small, besieged area. Indiscriminate bombing, obstruction of journalism, obstruction of healthcare. This situation can only be compared to the besieged areas of Syria during the Assad regime, which led to a unified condemnation from the West and significant sanctions. Very little has been done specifically for Gaza."

However, now the UK, France, and Canada are calling for an immediate halt to Israel's recent attack. On May 19, Keir Starmer and Mark Carney, along with Emmanuel Macron, made the following statement: "We have always supported Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism. However, this escalation is completely disproportionate. We will not remain spectators while the Netanyahu government continues these horrific actions." Sanctions may come to Israel. The UK and France are actively discussing recognizing Palestine as an independent state.

WAR AND REVENGE

In a television speech on October 7 to the Israeli people struggling with fear, anger, and trauma, Netanyahu quoted a poem by Israel's national poet Hayim Nahman Bialik. He chose the line: "The revenge for the blood of a small child, the Devil has not yet conceived."

This poem is taken from "In the City of Slaughter," considered one of the most important Hebrew poems of the 20th century. Bialik wrote this poem in 1903 as a young man after a pogrom against Jews in Chișinău, then part of imperial Russia and now the capital of Moldova. For three days, Christian gangs killed 49 Jews and raped at least 600 Jewish women.

The antisemitic violence and murders in Europe were one of the main reasons why Zionist Jews wanted to settle in Palestine, which they saw as their historical homeland, and establish their own state. This desire conflicted with the Palestinian Arabs' wish to retain their lands. The colonial power Britain did much to exacerbate this conflict.

In 1929, American journalist Vincent Sheean described Jerusalem in a way that would be familiar to reporters there nearly a century later. "The situation here is terrible. I expect something worse every day," he wrote. He noted that the violence could even be felt in the air, saying, "Tension has risen; you can feel it rising when you reach your hand into the air." Sheean's account of the 1920s reveals the deep roots of the conflict in lands where both Israelis and Palestinians wanted to share or separate but could not find a way or will to do so.

Palestinians see a direct relationship between the Gaza war and the destruction of their societies in 1948, the year Israel gained independence, and they refer to it as "Nakba" (Catastrophe). However, Netanyahu and many other Israelis and their supporters abroad associate the October 7 attacks with the persecution that Jews faced in Europe for centuries, culminating in the Holocaust, where six million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany.

Netanyahu used the same references to respond to Macron's statement in May that Israel's blockade of Gaza was "shameful" and "unacceptable." Netanyahu said Macron "chose once again to side with a murderous Islamist terrorist organization and to repeat the vile propaganda that accuses Israel of blood libel." Blood libel is a notorious antisemitic trope that dates back to medieval Europe, accusing Jews of murdering Christians, especially children, to use their blood in religious rituals.

After a couple working at the Israeli embassy in Washington DC was shot and killed, the gunman told police, "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza." Netanyahu linked the murders to the criticisms of Israel's stance by the leaders of the UK, France, and Canada. In a video posted on X, he said: "When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers, and kidnappers thank you, it means you are on the wrong side of justice. You are on the wrong side of humanity and on the wrong side of history. For 18 years, we had a de facto Palestinian state. Its name was Gaza. So what did we gain? Peace? No. We experienced the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust."

Netanyahu also referred to the long history of antisemitism in Europe when arrest warrants were issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who served as defense minister during the first 13 months of the war.

The court had also issued arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who is considered the mastermind behind October 7. All three were later killed by Israel.

A panel of judges from the ICC determined that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility. "As co-perpetrators for committing crimes against humanity, including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, due to their actions with others."

Netanyahu rejected the "false and absurd accusations" in a defiant statement. He likened the ICC to the antisemitic conspiracy that sent Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, to Devil's Island in 1894 on charges of treason. The innocent Dreyfus was eventually exonerated, but the incident caused a major political crisis. The statement said, "The ICC's antisemitic ruling is a modern Dreyfus case and will end in the same way." "No war has been more just than Israel's war in Gaza since October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist organization launched a brutal attack and committed the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust."

THE LEGACY OF OPPRESSION

Lawyer Helena Kennedy, a member of the House of Lords in the UK, was part of the panel asked by the ICC prosecutor to evaluate the evidence against Netanyahu and Gallant. Kennedy and her colleagues, all distinguished legal experts, concluded that there were reasonable grounds for issuing the arrest warrants.

Helena Kennedy rejected the accusation that the court and the prosecutor were acting with antisemitic motivation, stating in her London office, "We must always remember the horrors that the Jewish community has faced for centuries. The world is right to feel great compassion for the Jewish experience." She continued by saying that the historical Jewish persecutions do not give Israel a license to do what it is doing in Gaza. "The Holocaust filled us all with a great sense of guilt, and it should, because we were complicit. But the Holocaust also teaches us that we should not be complicit when we see crimes being committed."

"You must conduct war in accordance with the law, and I believe that the only way to achieve peace is to act fairly, and that justice is the foundation of all this. And I fear that we are not seeing that."

Israeli Holocaust historian and head of the Contemporary Jewry Institute at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Danny Blatman, expresses a harsher assessment. Prof. Blatman, whose family survived the Holocaust, says that Israeli politicians have long used the Holocaust as a tool to attack governments and world public opinion. He points out that accusing Israel of oppression regarding Palestine has also been instrumentalized as an "antisemitism response." Prof. Blatman states that possible critics "keep their mouths shut because they fear being seen as antisemitic by Israelis and politicians."

Lord Sumption, a former judge of the UK Supreme Court, believes that Israel needs to learn from its own history. "The terrible oppression and experiences of mass extermination that Jews have faced in the past should instill in Israel the fear of doing the same things to other peoples." History in the Middle East is inevitable, always present, and a repository of justifications to be plundered.

ISRAEL'S KEY ALLY: THE USA

Israel could not conduct this war with its chosen tactics in Gaza without the military, financial, and diplomatic support of the United States (US). US President Donald Trump showed signs of impatience, forcing Netanyahu to allow a few holes to be opened in the siege that brought Gaza to the brink of famine.

Netanyahu continues to support Trump's widely condemned proposal to turn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Mediterranean" by emptying it of Palestinians and handing it over to Americans for reconstruction. This proposal implies the mass expulsion of Palestinians and would constitute a war crime. Netanyahu's ultra-nationalist allies want to replace them with Jewish settlers.

Trump himself appears to be silent on the plan. However, the support of the Trump administration for Israel and its actions in Gaza does not seem to have diminished. On June 4, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an "unconditional and permanent" ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the lifting of restrictions on humanitarian aid. The other 14 members voted in favor. The next day, in retaliation for the arrest warrant decision, Americans imposed sanctions on four judges from the ICC.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the US and Israel protect their sovereignty against "illegitimate actions." "I call on countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedoms have been purchased at great American sacrifices, to fight against this disgraceful attack on our nation and Israel."

Instead, statements of support and solidarity for the ICC have come from European leaders. A wide and increasingly sharp divide has grown between the US and Europe regarding the legitimacy of criticizing the Gaza war and Israel's stance. Israel and the Trump administration reject the idea that the laws of war apply equally to all parties, claiming that it implies a false and erroneous equivalence between Hamas and Israel.

Jan Egeland, a former humanitarian aid official at the UN, says he can see the growing divide between Europe and the US. "I hope Europe will start to behave with backbone," he says, adding: "From London, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, there has been a world record of killed aid workers, killed nurses, killed doctors, killed teachers, killed children, and after so many months of hypocrisy where they did not see this and where journalists like you were not allowed access to witness these, finally new voices are starting to emerge."

'GENOCIDE' ISSUE

The question of whether genocide is occurring in Gaza is angering Israel and its allies led by the United States. Lawyers who believe that the evidence does not support this accusation have begun to fight against South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice, which claims that genocide is being committed against Palestinians. However, this claim has not disappeared.

Israeli politician Boaz Bismuth, a close supporter of Netanyahu, answers the genocide question as follows: "How can you accuse us of genocide when the Palestinian population has increased by so many times? How can you accuse me of ethnic cleansing while I am moving the population into Gaza to protect them? How can you blame me while I lose my soldiers to protect my enemies?"

Proving genocide is difficult; the stages that prosecutors must prove are intentionally kept strict. However, some legal experts in this field believe that it is not necessary to expect progress from the process initiated by South Africa last January.

I ask Lord Sumption, a former judge at the UK Supreme Court, for his written opinion: "Genocide is a matter of intent," he replies: "To kill, disable, or impose unbearable conditions on a national or ethnic group with the intent to destroy them in whole or in part means genocide. The statements of Netanyahu and his ministers indicate that the purpose of the current operations is to force the Arab population in Gaza to leave the region by killing and starving them. All of this makes genocide the most reasonable explanation for what is currently happening."

South Africa based a large part of its genocide case against Israel on the provocative language used by Israeli leaders. Netanyahu's reference to the Bible while sending troops to Gaza, comparing Hamas to Amalek, was also included in the file. In the Bible, God commands the Israelites to destroy the Amalekites who oppress them.

Another statement was from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who ordered the complete siege of the Gaza Strip immediately after the Hamas attacks: "There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel; everything will be closed. We are at war with human animals, and we are acting accordingly."

Ralph Wilde, a law professor at University College London, also believes that genocide has been proven. Wilde states, "Unfortunately, yes, and there is now no legal doubt about this, and in fact, it has been this way for some time." Wilde points out that the International Court of Justice has determined that Israel's presence in Gaza and the West Bank is illegal.

Wilde compares the reactions of Western governments to the war in Gaza to Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "There is no court ruling that Russia's actions in Ukraine are illegal. However, states have found it possible to make public statements identifying the illegality of this action. In this case, there is nothing preventing them from doing so. Therefore, if they say they will wait, the question that should be asked is: Why are you waiting for a court to tell you something you already know?"

Helena Kennedy states, "I avoid the casual use of the word genocide because I believe that there must be a very high level of proof, a very high level of intent in law to prove it": "Are we saying this is not genocide but a crime against humanity? Does that sound good to you? Horrific crimes against humanity? I think we are in the process of witnessing the most serious crimes being committed. I believe there is definitely a strong argument for this, and we are on a trajectory that could easily lead to genocide." Kennedy says that if asked, her advice to the British government would be: "We must be very careful about being complicit in serious crimes."

Eventually, a ceasefire will be achieved. However, this will not end the suffering or the ambiguity of the process. The genocide case at the International Court of Justice means this. The arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant do as well. When journalists and war crimes investigators are able to enter the Gaza Strip, they will encounter more concrete realities regarding what has happened.

Those who go to Gaza with the UN or health teams say that even people who have seen many wars struggle to grasp the extent of the damage. One thing an Israeli officer said during my only visit to Gaza since the war began sticks in my mind. A month after the war started, I spent a few hours among the ruins with the Israeli army, and the war had already turned northern Gaza into rubble. That officer told me they were doing everything they could to avoid firing on Palestinian civilians. Then he paused and argued that no one in Gaza could be innocent because they all supported Hamas.