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Murder of Surrenderers

Israeli War Crimes

International Humanitarian Law

In Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, international humanitarian law makes it clear that killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defense, has surrendered at discretion is a war crime. It also highlights that intentional attacks against civilians are prohibited, regardless to whether or not they have surrendered.

Murder of Four Surrendering Palestinians

On October 10th, the IDF published a video of them shooting four Palestinians as they were surrendering. According to an analysis from AlJazeera: (i) the four Palestinians were unarmed, (ii) when met with IDF soldiers, they were waving their shirts as a sign of surrender. Despite the fact that they were unarmed as in the video, a subsequent video by the IDF showed the bodies had been moved, with weapons placed near them on the ground, according to the analysis. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the FRANCE 24 Observers they had no comment. By law, this is a crime whether or not they were armed. The fact that they were actually unarmed in the original video exacerbates the crime as it suggests they were civilians.

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Murder of Palestinian Mom in Front of Her Child

Another instance of this crime emerged early in January, where a Palestinian mom is shot in front of her child while she is waving a white flag.

Murder of Israeli Hostages in Gaza

Another instance of this war crime further elaborates the excessively violent conduct of Israel’s campaign against Palestinians. On the 15th of December, the IDF released that they have killed three of their own hostages in Gaza (their images shown below). Despite being unarmed, the issue signals far more than that the IDF is deliberately targetting civilians, as the hostages were in fact surrendering with a white flag and screaming hebrew to prove that they are not a threat. Surprisingly, and as a response, the Israel military published a conclusion "that there was no malice in the event, and the soldiers carried out the right action to the best of their understanding of the event at that moment.” This is shocking because rationally there should be absolutely no conditions under which killing unarmed surrenderers is the right action to do. Evidence has been found suggesting that the soldiers were ordered to attack any fighting-age man that they find, a tactic that clearly aligns with methods employed in genocidal campaigns.

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History

In an X post, Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine Director writes: “Hostages should not have been in Gaza—hostage-taking is a war crime.” in response to the recent event, he also continues “But the killings underscore Israel forces' long-standing practice of shooting first/asking later & track record of unlawfully firing at unarmed people who pose no threat w/ impunity—even those waving white flags”. Indeed, this seems to be more of a standard practice by the IDF. In 2009, Human Rights Watch documented seven incidents in which the IDF shot and killed 11 Palestinian civilians who were in groups carrying white flags. Five women and four children were among the victims, including a 2-year-old girl.