The military attorney's office ordered not to eliminate Gazan citizens who participated in the Sheva massacre in October. The reason for this: they are not defined as Hamas terrorists, as we published this evening (Tuesday) for the first time in the "Main Edition".From the interpretation of the military attorney's office for the laws of war, it is claimed that only those who belong to the fighting force can be killed intentionally in war. Targeted elimination is a preventive measure, not a punishment, and therefore, since the "civilian" is not part of the fighting force, he cannot be killed in retaliation.This order was given despite the fact that after October 7 the government promised that Israel would bring everyone who was involved in the massacre to account. Despite this, if the Shin Bet and the IDF learn of the location of Gazans who have murdered, looted, raped or kidnapped Israelis, they will not have legal authorization to eliminate them.The terrorist organization "Lords of the Wilderness", which holds the Bibas family hostage, is not defined as a group in a state of war with Israel. Therefore, if intelligence is discovered about the whereabouts of the kidnappers of the Bibas family - it will not be possible to eliminate them on this basis.More than five sources in the army, at the field levels, claim that there have already been similar cases in practice: at the end of April, intelligence information was received about the participants of the massacre and it was not translated into their elimination due to the legal prohibition.
The army denies this report. Defense Minister Yoav Galant is expected to respond next week to Knesset member Amit Halevi's question on the subject.
An IDF spokesperson said: "The policy is to act against all participants in the massacre, regardless of their membership in a terrorist organization. To this end, an orderly operational process is carried out in accordance with international law. The IDF is not aware of an incident in which it was possible to attack a participating terrorist and did not do so."
Srugim clarifies the report, saying the legal department of the IDF "imposes a prohibition on the IDF to eliminate [October 7 attackers] out of revenge if they are found. The only reason they would be able to eliminate them is if intelligence is received showing Their intention is to carry out further terrorist attacks."
The report is, unfortunately, quite believable. Even though the world doesn't believe it, the IDF follows international law strictly - and often too strictly, beyond the letter of the law.
Customary international humanitarian law defines civilians as "persons who are not members of the armed forces. The civilian population comprises all persons who are civilians." There is no doubt that when the civilians are actively engaged in fighting that they lose civilian status.But if they are not members of an armed group, and they are not actively carrying arms during the fighting, their status appears to revert to that of civilians."In case of doubt whether a person is a civilian or not, that person must be considered to be a civilian."
Instinctively, this is horrifying. I suppose that the IDF could snatch the participants of October 7 and put them on trial, which is not a reasonable possibility on the battlefield in most cases. But their hands are tied because international law does not deal well with a situation where "civilians" are eager to join in terror acts themselves while not formally members of the terror group.
While this is sickening, it also is proof that the IDF is above all an army that adheres to international law. The law is the problem, not the IDF.
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