Aizenberg Profile picture
Author; Board member @HonestReporting; wrote @NGOmonitor rebuttals debunking HRW & Amnesty "apartheid" reports; articles in Tablet, Fathom Journal etc.

Dec 18, 2023, 12 tweets

🧵IDF soldiers broke protocols tragically killing hostages with white flags. Key question is why soldiers may have thought they were a threat? Because of at least TEN Hamas war crimes which greatly impact IDF actions, especially in Shejaiya where this occurred. Here they are: 1/

ONE: Hamas dresses as civilians. If Hamas wore uniforms as required by international law, IDF would never have thought civilians might be combatants. The hostages would still be alive. Hamas violates Geneva Protocol I.44.3 2/

TWO: Hamas regularly violates “Prohibition of perfidy” by feigning civilian status, a key factor in tragic hostage incident. Hamas acts like civilians, enters homes set up with arms, exits as civilian, enters another pre-set attack position. A core Hamas battle strategy 3/

THREE: Hamas uses human shields. Not just hiding among & under civilians which is also war crime. But sending civilians as spotters or to disrupt IDF actions as reported in Jabaliya in just one case from story below. Hamas violates Protocol I.51.7 risking lives of civilians. 4/

FOUR: Hamas illegally booby traps bodies, certain civilian sites, even children’s backpack (see news story) & lures troops using things like baby recordings. This has killed IDF soldiers. War crimes under Protocol on Prohibitions & Restrictions on Use of Mines, Booby-Traps. 5/

FIVE: Hamas violates Protocol I.58 as they have an affirmative duty to avoid locating military objectives from "densely population areas" – like Shejaiya neighborhood where hostages killed. This is the core Hamas war crime: embedding within civilian areas. 6/

SIX: Hamas regularly violates Geneva Protocol I.53 by using mosques for weapons storage, attacks, tunnels etc. Many documented examples. While not directly related to killing of hostages, this & other war crimes speak to IDF troops knowing that NOTHING is too low for Hamas. 7/

SEVEN: Further in the category of NOTHING being too low for Hamas: rape on 10/7 and sexual violence against hostages (10 hostages reported this) is a unique war crime. 8/

EIGHT: Hamas tortured and caused physical suffering to hostages. From placing burn marks on children to identify them if they escaped to just murdering hostages they violate Geneva IV.32. Nothing is too low & depraved for Hamas. IDF has internalized this. 9/

NINE: Hamas use of hospitals for its military actions is now well documented, from hostage taking at Rantisi & Shifa hospitals, tunnels, Hamas firing positions, weapons inside incubators. Nothing too low for Hamas. Nothing can be trusted. Several laws broken like this one: 10/

TEN: Finally of course: taking hostages is a war crime per Geneva IV.34. If Hamas had not taken hostages in the first place they’d still be alive today. Their death – and every civilian death in this war – is ultimately for the account of Hamas. 11/

Another 10 war crimes could easily be listed (e.g. rockets). It is dishonest & willfully ignorant to assess killing of hostages by IDF without taking into account these massive Hamas war crimes IDF soldiers deal with daily. UN & Fake NGOs of course pretend they don't know. END

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