Israel Launches Week-Long Bombing Campaign in Gaza Amid Ongoing War Crimes
Investigation
Israeli leaders have characterized the latest bombardment as retaliatory,
citing "incendiary balloons" and "riots" as justification.
by Kathryn Shihadah
August 18th, 2020
By Kathryn Shihadah Kathryn Shihadah
Last Monday night Israeli fighter jets executed airstrikes on the besieged
Gaza Strip for the ninth night in a row in an act that may be another on
Israel's long list of possible war crimes.
Israeli leaders characterized the actions as retaliatory, naming Gazan
"incendiary balloons" and "riots" as justification.
This is just the latest in what mainstream media generally depicts as a
"protracted conflict" between "the militant group Hamas and Israel," after
"months of calm" (5 Gazans have been killed in 2020; Israel has shot at
farmers and fishermen hundreds of times; no Israelis have been killed).
The plight of Palestinians in Gaza, a population of almost two million
crammed into a region the size of Detroit, has been hidden from the view of
most, even as the US funds its occupier with over $10 million a day in
military aid.
Not only does Israel limit the amount of food and medicine entering the
Strip, but it has also attacked the population in three massive incursions
and countless smaller forays, killing thousands while only suffering
relatively minor casualties itself.
The current escalation is one example of the constant oppression and
violence Gazans have experienced for thirteen years.
Palestinian resistance
Hamas is the democratically elected political party in Gaza, with a wing
that engages in resistance against Israel's 53-year de facto occupation and
13-year blockade - both of which are illegal. International law condones
such resistance.
Most recent cases of incendiary balloons were not the work of Hamas, but of
independent activist groups in the Strip, which have also been responsible
for launching several rockets.
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The incendiary balloons have caused some fires on Israeli farmland and
forests, but have never killed or injured anyone; in the 19 years that
militants have fired rockets out of Gaza, about 30 Israelis have been killed
- the most recent in May 2019.
Actions that Israel describes as "riots" that are described in Associated
Press as "dozens" of Palestinian protesters who have gathered nightly at the
border fence with Israel.
Israel's punishing response
Israeli reprisals have been harsh, as its leaders acknowledge. The IDF
"responds with all its might against incendiary balloons," according to a
Jerusalem Post report.
Actions include nightly strikes by IDF fighter jets, attack helicopters, and
tanks against what Israel calls "Hamas targets." Arab news outlets describe
hits to "many homes" (injuring women and children) and "farmlands," as well
as structures belonging to resistance groups. IDF also targeted a cement
factory.
Last Thursday morning, residents discovered an unexploded missile inside a
UN school in a Gazan refugee camp.
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Israel has also closed all crossings into and out of Gaza, blocking the
delivery of needed food and fuel to run Gaza's only power plant. The plant
has shut down as of Tuesday.
In addition, Israel has completely shut down Gaza's fishing zone "until
further notice," directly impacting nearly 5,000 Palestinians employed by
the fishing sector.
Gaza's demands
While mainstream media rarely addresses the reasons for Gazan resistance -
or relegates it to the last paragraphs of articles - the people's appeals
are accessible.
Hamas officials have charged that Israel is reneging on its promises to ease
the 13-year-old blockade, causing starvation in Gaza.
Elsewhere, activists have expressed anger at "Israeli violations against
Al-Aqsa Mosque" and Netanyahu's annexation plans, as well as policies that
"paralyze daily life and disrupt efforts of combating coronavirus."
Israeli leaders' confessions
In the words of Israel's own leaders, they are perpetrating collective
punishment and disproportionate actions on Gaza's Palestinians - war crimes
under international law.
In addition to unjustifiably holding Hamas responsible for every militant
action in Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has vowed to continue
punishing all Gazans until the resistance ends:
By launching rockets and explosive balloons, the heads of Hamas are
undermining the interests of the residents of Gaza and are impairing their
ability to live in dignity and security.The IDF will respond forcefully to
any violation of sovereignty.If [Israeli border town] Sderot isn't quiet,
Gaza won't be either."
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated his intentions to mount a
disproportionate attack after incendiary balloons arrived in Israel:
There will be a very heavy price for the balloon terror. We will not suffer
this, we will act and exact a heavy price."
Ongoing war crime investigations
Israel is already under investigation for actions in 2014 and possibly 2018.
Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda
stated,
There is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes have been or are
being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza
Strip."
The ICC cited Israel's "disproportionate use of force" in the 2014 military
action that left 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead - as well as other
possible war crimes, including collective punishment and transfer of
population into occupied territory.
Israel insists, not that it is innocent, but that the ICC has no
jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention designates collective punishment
as a war crime. The International Committee of the Red Cross elaborates,
[S]uch practices, by reason of their excessive severity and cruelty, [keep]
alive and [strengthen] the spirit of resistance.They are opposed to all
principles based on humanity and justice.
Feature photo | A Palestinian boy