For years, the international community voiced skepticism about claims regarding Hamas' use of hospitals. In the documents, which are dated February and March 2020, Hamas declares unequivocally that health facilities in Gaza are not neutral zones but instead play a crucial role in its terror network – as assembly points for terrorists, as locations for storing military equipment, and as sites with security and intelligence value. It also comes to light that senior Hamas officials were frequently present at these facilities.

For example, the documents indicate that Hamas was concerned that "hostile parties" would collect intelligence on medical facilities, given that they "serve as places where the wounded... who hold sensitive positions in the resistance... are gathered in during times of escalation." Medical facilities were also designated as "gathering for many commanders of the movement [i.e. Hamas] and the government in times of escalation."

The documents mention that the Red Cross "has chosen [to operate] in a wing inside Al-Shifa Hospital that is adjacent to the [Hamas] movement's offices." Furthermore, it is revealed that Hamas set up a secure communications infrastructure inside hospitals, even within spaces where non-governmental organizations were active. For instance, "Doctors Without Borders (MSF) France chose the only room in Abu Yousef El-Najar Hospital that has a (safe) communication landline which belongs to the positive's activity (a moniker for Hamas' military wing)... in order for MSF to work in it separately," it was written.

It also comes to light that Hamas placed severe limitations on foreign medical delegations to inhibit the exposure of the organization's use of hospitals. A document notes that "much of the services provided have a security aspect to them since these involve people wounded as a result  of the occupation's aggression and burns, mainly resistance members or activists [in Hamas-guided operations]." Additionally, it was determined that foreign medical teams would be allowed to operate only in designated, pre-authorized areas. "The Ministry of Health permits medical delegations to move in specific places... but it prohibits movement within the hospital where the delegation is active."

Hamas also insisted that "work should not be conducted with medical delegations if senior resistance officials are (present), and regarding the simple operatives (of Hamas), caution should be taken." It was also noted that "medical members [of Hamas] from Gaza will join incoming delegations, whether they work in hospitals and their [NGOs] designated locations"

The documents enumerate the names of the non-governmental organizations and international agencies active inside Gaza's hospitals – and the reality that they function according to Hamas' directives.

"The evidence of complicity is blatant," said Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. "This document exposes the hypocrisy of supposedly humanitarian international organizations like the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC). While repeatedly echoing Hamas allegations and condemning Israel's operations to end the exploitation of hospitals for terror, these groups clearly knew that Hamas exploited these facilities, and chose to remain silent. To make hospitals in Gaza safe for everyone, the NGO and UN code of silence must be broken."

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In a statement on their website, the foundation said the following: "These individuals are not fringe actors or incidental participants. They are directly implicated in some of the most egregious crimes committed during Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza, including:Indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, homes, and hospitals;The use of torture and human shields;Mass arbitrary detention and forced displacement of civilians;And the deliberate infliction of conditions calculated to destroy the Palestinian population, consistent with genocide under Article 6 of the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention."

Both soldiers are attending, alongside thousands of other Israelis, the "Tomorrowland" electronic music festival, among the world's premier events of its genre and a major attraction for European youth. The organization withheld the soldiers' identities, presumably for legal considerations.

Last week's festival events, scheduled to continue on Friday, transformed into venues for multiple pro-Israel displays, featuring Israeli flag presentations and interactions between Israeli and Iranian attendees.

The Hind Rajab Foundation expressed fury over the display of a Givati Brigade flag by festival participants during one performance. "The Givati flag, publicly displayed in the heart of Belgium, is not just a military symbol. It has become, for millions, a symbol of impunity, destruction, and ethnic cleansing. Its appearance in Boom raises urgent political questions: Why are those involved in grave international crimes able to walk freely, celebrate in public, and glorify their actions without consequence?" it said.

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Per The Toronto Star, the RCMP began this inquiry discreetly in early 2024, unlike its widely publicized Ukraine war crimes investigation, which employed a hotline, dedicated webpage, and public campaigns to gather evidence. The Ukraine effort included airport signs, media interviews, and questionnaires targeting displaced Ukrainians' testimonies.

The Toronto Star explained that such probes, termed "structural investigations," operate under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program (CAHWCP), a joint effort by the RCMP, Department of Justice, Canada Border Services Agency, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The program seeks to block war criminals from finding refuge in Canada and pursues justice by sharing evidence globally or prosecuting domestically, though Canadian trials are uncommon.

The RCMP, in a statement to The Toronto Star, affirmed its neutrality, noting, "As a neutral law enforcement body, the RCMP considers allegations from all parties involved with impartiality." It declined further comment to safeguard the investigation's integrity.

 Canada, the UK, and France have recently criticized Israel's expanded Gaza operations and threatened sanctions, while urging Hamas to free hostages. Canada also called on Israel to abandon plans for 22 new West Bank settlements, labeling them illegal.

The Department of Justice informed The Toronto Star that structural investigations may start when evidence of war crimes or genocide exists and a significant related immigrant community in Canada can provide evidence. The Toronto Star referenced a widely discredited UN commission reports alleging war crimes by both Hamas and Israel since October 2023. The Justice Department confirmed that the RCMP independently decides to launch such probes, declining to discuss active cases beyond Ukraine.

The Toronto Star highlighted the RCMP's customized approach to investigations, noting the Israel-Hamas probe's lower profile compared to the Ukraine effort, announced six weeks after Russia's 2022 invasion. Marco Mendicino, then-Public Safety Minister and currently Prime Minister Mark Carney's chief of staff, told The Globe and Mail that accountability and real-time evidence collection were critical in Ukraine.

"As we see human casualties pile up and the scale and size of this humanitarian crisis grow alarmingly, it is important that we hold those who are committing the atrocities responsible," the former minister said at the time. "It is essential that we preserve the record of what happened and what is happening in Ukraine in real time," added Mendicino, who has been serving on a temporary basis as Prime Minister Mark Carney's chief of staff.

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The situation in Gaza is one of the most contentious issues of our time, with accusations of war crimes flying between conflicting sides. The debate often centers on whether Israel is intentionally targeting civilians or conducting military operations within the framework of international law. This article aims to dissect the complex layers of this issue, exploring the definitions of war crimes, the actions of both Israel and Hamas and the broader implications of the conflict.

The recent escalations in violence, particularly following the attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, have reignited discussions about war crimes. The brutal nature of these attacks, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Israeli civilians, shocked the nation and led to a strong response from Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched airstrikes on Gaza, prompting immediate accusations of war crimes from critics around the world.

This ongoing conflict has multiple fronts, including the battlefield and the digital space, where narratives are shaped and misinformation can spread rapidly. The emotional weight of the language used – terms like "war crimes"– can obscure the legal definitions and the realities on the ground. Understanding the context of these accusations is crucial to navigating the complex landscape of international law and military ethics.

What constitutes a war crime?

To assess whether Israel's actions meet the legal definitions of war crimes, we must first understand what constitutes a war crime. According to international law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, war crimes include intentional targeting of civilians, using human shields, taking non-combatants as hostages, and torture of prisoners.

While Hamas has employed tactics that violate these laws, such as using civilians as human shields and conducting indiscriminate attacks, the focus here is on Israel's actions. The IDF has repeatedly stated that their airstrikes are not aimed at civilians but rather at military targets associated with Hamas. The critical question becomes: Are these actions intentional war crimes or lawful military operations?

Does Israel intentionally target civilians?

One of the main arguments against Israel is that its military operations result in significant civilian casualties, although the figures are based on Hamas' claims, which are highly unreliable. Reports indicate that some of the casualties in Gaza are civilians, including women and children. This raises the question of whether the IDF's actions amount to war crimes. However, the legal definition hinges on intent. If the intention behind the airstrikes is to target Hamas and not civilians, then they do not constitute a war crime.

The IDF has issued evacuation orders to civilians in Gaza and has taken measures to minimize collateral damage. These actions suggest an intention to avoid civilian casualties. While the tragic reality of civilian deaths cannot be overlooked, the distinction between intentional targeting and collateral damage is crucial in determining the legality of military actions.

Inflated numbers

The Health Ministry of Gaza, while sounding official, is run by Hamas just like every other ministry in Gaza. The more Gazan civilians die, the stronger and more legitimate Hamas support gets. To this end, it makes sense that Hamas would inflate the civilian death toll to garner international and domestic support. This must be taken into account when studying their figures.

Disproportionate force

Critics often highlight the disproportionate nature of Israel's response to Hamas attacks. The stark contrast in casualties raises ethical and legal dilemmas. However, proportionality in warfare does not equate to an equal number of casualties on both sides. Instead, it involves assessing whether the anticipated civilian damage is proportionate to the military advantage gained from the operation.

Blowing up a civilian building that harbors terrorists is not a war crime, even if civilian life will be lost. In practical terms, this means that while civilian casualties are tragic, they do not automatically indicate a war crime if the military objective is deemed necessary and justified. The IDF's rationale for its strikes is always rooted in the need to protect its citizens from Hamas.

Access to humanitarian aid

Another significant aspect of the conflict is the blockade and the access to humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.

The reality in Gaza is that Hamas has been diverting aid for its military purposes, complicating the situation further. Hamas uses international aid to further its terror and also sells it to Palestinians for a higher price. This has been corroborated by many frustrated Palestinians who have had aid stolen from them.

Hamas' governance of Gaza has led to significant challenges for the civilian population. Reports indicate that Hamas has been indifferent to the suffering of Palestinians, prioritizing military objectives over humanitarian needs.

Accusations of war crimes

Public perception plays a significant role in shaping the narrative around Israel's actions. Many people, driven by the propaganda of suffering in Gaza, may conclude that Israel is committing war crimes. However, it is essential to recognize that intention matters in international law. The accusations against Israel often overlook the context of its military operations and the stated goals of protecting its citizens.

The reality is that Israel would gain nothing by intentionally targeting civilians. The consequences of such actions would be catastrophic, not only for Israel's reputation but also for the safety of Jews worldwide. The ongoing conflict has led to a troubling increase in antisemitism globally. Accusations of war crimes against Israel often spill over into broader anti-Jewish sentiment, resulting in violence and discrimination against Jewish communities worldwide.

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Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions, amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, according to a report from an UN-backed inquiry released Thursday.

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The sweeping human rights report, released a year to the day after a Russian airstrike on a theater in Mariupol killed hundreds sheltering inside, marked a highly unusual condemnation of a member of the UN Security Council.

Among potential crimes against humanity, the report cited repeated attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure since the fall that left hundreds of thousands without heat and electricity during the coldest months, as well as the "systematic and widespread" use of torture across multiple regions under Russian occupation.

A commission of inquiry is the most powerful tool used by the UN-backed Human Rights Council to scrutinize abuses and violations around the world. The investigation released Thursday was set up during an urgent debate shortly after Russia's invasion last year.

The commission's three members are independent human rights experts, and its staff gets support and funding from the council and the UN human rights office.

The report's authors noted a "small number" of apparent violations by Ukrainian forces, including one they said was under criminal investigation by Ukrainian authorities but reserved the vast majority of their report for allegations against Russia.

Russia did not respond to the inquiry's appeals for information.

Most of the abuses highlighted by the investigation were already well known, but the findings come with the imprimatur of the international community: The experts work under a mandate overwhelmingly created last year by the Human Rights Council, which brings together the governments of 47 UN member countries.

Ultimately, the report may add to efforts to boost accountability for crimes committed in the war – whether by the International Criminal Court or by some individual countries that have taken on the right to apply "universal jurisdiction" to prosecute atrocities, wherever they may take place.

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In an unsurprising result, Syrian President Bashar Assad won reelection this week with 95.1% of the vote, despite the bloody civil war that broke out, in which the Assad regime committed war crimes against its own citizens.

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The 95.1% of the vote comprises 13,540,000 ballots cast.

Voting did not take place in areas controlled by rebels or Kurdish-led troops. At least 8 million, mostly displaced, live in those areas in northwest and northeast Syria. Over 5 million refugees – mostly living in neighboring countries – largely refrained from casting their ballots.

US and European officials have questioned the legitimacy of the election, saying it violates UN resolutions in place to resolve the conflict, lacks any international monitoring, and is unrepresentative of all Syrians.

Assad faced symbolic competition from two candidates – Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and Mahmoud Marie, a former minister and a former opposition figure.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to meet with the top brass of Israel's political, military, and legal apparatuses on Tuesday to decide how Israel should respond to the International Criminal Court at The Hague's decision to launch an investigation into Israel for alleged "war crimes" committed in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

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Specifically, the meeting is expected to decide how Israel should reply to ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's query about whether Israel intends to investigate itself for the allegations the ICC is probing, or not.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, Deputy Attorney General for International Law Roy Schöndorf, legal counsel for the Foreign Ministry Tal Becker, and other officials are slated to participate in the meeting.

Israel is deliberating between the option of entirely ignoring Bensouda's query, on the grounds that Israel is not a member of the ICC and therefore does not recognize its authority and sees the probe itself as a biased political move.

The second option would be to respond to Bensouda with a terse letter, saying that the prosecutor has no authority to handle the matter.

Lower-level meetings over the past few weeks failed to reach agreement on the appropriate tack to take, and therefore the matter was placed before Netanyahu.

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No fewer than 16 former heads of state, high-ranking ministers, and security experts have reached out to the newly-appointed chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Karim Khan, and warned him that an investigation against Israel would be part of international efforts to delegitimize Israel and would make the ICC into a political entity, hurting its own standing.

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Signatories to a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that was initiated by the Friends of Israel Initiative and sent to Khan on Friday include former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; former Australian Prime Minister John Howard; former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar; former president of Uruguay Luis Alberto Lacalle; former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

Khan is due to take over from current ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in approximately two months.

The letter signed by the former leaders tells Khan that "we came together out of concern for the unprecedented campaign of delegitimization against Israel waged by the enemies of the Jewish State and supported by numerous international institutions."

In the letter, the former national leaders explain at length that Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, not a member of the ICC, and therefore the court has neither reason nor justification to try Israeli citizens.

"This view is strongly supported by the government of the United States of America, as well as the governments of Rome Statute state-parties Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Uganda, and leading international law scholars," it states.

The leaders point out that the ICC has mandate to investigate the "gravest crimes" as a court of last resort when national jurisdictions cannot or will not do so – a situation that does not apply to Israel, which it says has a "long-established and internationally respected legal system with a track record of investigating such crimes."

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What will Israel's relationship with the International Criminal Court in The Hague look like now that British human rights attorney Karim Khan has been elected the court's new chief prosecutor?

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As previously reported by Israel Hayom, the choice of Khan could lead officials in Jerusalem to reconsider boycotting the ICC, but the legal advocacy organization Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center holds the opinion that Israel should stop cooperating with the international agency, and even enforce that position through legislation and has already prepared a bill to that effect.

Shurat Hadin believes that whoever serves as ICC chief prosecutor, it is still vital that Israel stop cooperating with the court, of which Israel is not a member. Therefore, a bill has been prepared that would block the ICC from carrying out investigations in Israel or investigating Israelis. For years, the US has had a similar law. Kenya, which has been the subject of an ICC investigation, also took similar action.

The bill includes a series of steps to prevent investigations against Israel, including five-year prison sentences and financial penalties for any civilian group, such as an NGO, that hands information of any kind over to the ICC, either directly or indirectly; a five-year sentence for anyone who provides services to the ICC; a prohibition on any financial ties, direct or indirect, with the ICC, including the possibility that the ICC might hire investigators to operate in Israel; a ban on any governmental agency handing any type of information over to the ICC or its representatives without explicit approval from the justice minister; a ban on handing over anyone the ICC wants to investigate or arrest to the ICC or any third party; and a ban on ICC representatives entering Israel or conducting any activity within Israel's borders.

In addition, the bill proposes defining any assets the ICC holds in Israel as assets owned by a terrorist organization; "meaningful" government statements about any foreign officials helping the ICC from within Israel; and a governmental obligation to provide legal and financial assistance to any Israeli who becomes the subject of an ICC investigation.

Shurat Hadin said that the bill has been authored and is ready to be presented to the 24th Knesset as soon as it begins its work.

"Israel has to do today what the US did 20 years ago as soon as the ICC was founded," Shurat Hadin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner told Israel Hayom.

"We have waited with this bill for a long time, but we now see the hangman's noose tightening around Israel's neck in The Hague," Darshan-Leitner added.

"Israel must to everything in its power to prevent the ICC taking action against Israelis. While the court takes an anti-Semitic position against the state of Israel and IDF soldiers, we need to anchor in law that no Israeli official or entity will submit information against Israelis to the ICC. Israel has an independent, strong law enforcement system, and when a suspicion of 'war crimes' arises, the matter is investigated with the utmost seriousness," Darshan-Leitner said.

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In response to an international outcry over the International Criminal Court at The Hague's decision that its jurisdiction extends to investigating Israel for alleged war crimes against the Palestinians, should it decide to do so, the ICC has published a document in which it seeks to clarify the meaning of the process and responds to allegations that its ruling was political, including one made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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The document argues that the decision about its authority to investigate Israel was not political in nature, because the ICC prosecution was addressing the legal issue about whether a territory, including the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem, was subject to international law and the court's jurisdiction. The decision recognizes that the legal status of the territory requires further clarification.

In a direct answer to Netanyahu, who called the decision "pure anti-Semitism," the ICC writes that the court was an "independent, incorrupt" judicial body that played a critical role in providing a legal solution to the most serious crimes under international law.

The ICC said it operated solely under the legal framework of the Rome Statute, which granted the court its authority.

The ICC document also noted that its ruling could be appealed and outlined the actions needed to file an appeal. It also stated that the court's ruling on its authority to investigate Israel did not comprise a decision to proceed with an investigation, and that a decision about an investigation lay with the chief prosecutor.

In addition, the ICC's response noted that if an investigation were launched, it would not be limited to one side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and would also investigate the actions of the various Palestinian groups, including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as possible war crimes.

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