Israel's Jenin operation amounts to war crimes, say experts

"Legal experts have said that Israel's military operation in Jenin earlier this month, which killed 12 Palestinians and wounded 100 others, fits into the parameters of war crimes under the Geneva Conventions.

Susan Akram, a clinical professor at Boston University's School of Law, said the raid on Jenin clearly amounts to war crimes for a number of reasons, including intentionally attacking a civilian population and attacking medical units.

"The Geneva Conventions include as war crimes during occupation, willful killings, willfully causing great suffering to an occupied population and extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity," Akram said during a webinar on Thursday hosted by the Arab Center Washington, DC.

"There's no doubt that what Israel carried out in Jenin constitutes war crimes."

The other panelists on the webinar, Daniel Levy of the US/Middle East Project and journalist Dalia Hatuqa, agreed that Israel's actions in the West Bank amount to war crimes."

"Israel has stated that the raids are an attempt to root out groups responsible for attacks on Israeli citizens, and the United States has also come to defend the latest raid, with the White House expressing support for "Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups".

But Akram said that the narrative used by Israel does not stop its actions from being illegal under international law, noting that the West Bank is an occupied territory.

"Israel's attacks on an occupied population are criminal in and of themselves because occupation law forbids the occupier to use military attacks against civilian targets in the territory it occupies," she said."
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-jenin-operation-amounts-war-crimes-say-experts