While the IDF said it struck Hamas militants who were operating in a command-and-control center embedded inside the Humanitarian zone, I underline that international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack, must be upheld at all times. I also emphasize that civilians must never be used as human shields.Yet again, such actions only underscore that nowhere is safe in Gaza.
Wennesland appears to have added the statement about human shields to appear even handed. His tweet on the statement didn't mention that part of it.
But Wennesland emphasized that using human shielding is unacceptable and said that was one of the reasons that "nowhere is safe in Gaza."
And almost no one reported on this part of his statement.
The BBC quoted it without elaborating. So did some non-western media. But most didn't even mention that a UN official assigned nearly equal blame to Hamas as to Israel for its part in endangering civilians.
Typical is how the New York Times covered the statement:
Israeli [sic] has long said that Hamas embeds itself among civilians to use them as human shields. International law experts have said Israel still has a responsibility to protect civilians during its military operations. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza in 11 months of war, according to the Gazan Health Ministry, whose figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.The U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, condemned the strike. “The killing of civilians must stop, and this horrific war must end,” he said.The United Nations and other rights organizations have said that there is no safe place in Gaza.
While it is rare, this is not the first time a UN official has noted that Hamas employs a human shield strategy. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in November, "Hamas and other militants use civilians as human shields." Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said a week ago, "Civilian objects in Gaza, including infrastructure are also reportedly being used to shield fighters and military objectives, endangering the lives of civilians in and around them. Civilians should not be used as human shields."
These were either never reported or buried in anti-Israel stories.
Hamas doesn't merely use human shields. Hiding behind and underneath Gaza civilians is a crucial component of its entire military strategy. And it is the party primarily responsible for the deaths of Gaza civilians, not Israel.
After all, Wennesland's understanding of international law is flawed. He is charging Israel with violating "the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack," Yet Israel issued the names of the Hamas terrorists they killed, proving that they adhered to the principle of distinction; they emphasized that they took all possible precautions, and international law's understanding of proportionality in other wars have shown that killing 16 civilians along with 3 high value military targets is not disproportionate at all. In fact, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ruled that NATO bombing a broadcast station used for military purposes, which only knocked it out for several hours, was not a disproportionate attack even though it also killed 16 civilians.
The Geneva Conventions says very clearly: "The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. "
The media, and to a large extent the international community, is not just doing a disservice by ignoring the deliberate use of human shields by Hamas. It is endangering civilians in future wars. Since one's impression of international law from the media and international officials is now saying that the principle of proportionality is far more restrictive than it has been in previous wars, they are encouraging terrorists to rely even more on a human shield strategy.
It is a big deal for a UN official to say that Hamas is even partially responsible for the deaths of civilians in Gaza. It is unconscionable and irresponsible for the media to pretend that the statement was never said.
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