Not a single rocket fired has a legitimate military target?
1. Under the law of armed conflict, Hamas or PIJ rocket attacks, at Israel civilian centres, are guilty of the war crime of attacking civilians. Assuming that this was an unguided rocket fired by PIJ at targets in Israel, but for some reason broke up midair and the damage on the ground was caused by the debris. On this assumption:
(a) if the rocket randomly fired into Israel or intended to hit civilians, this amounted to an indiscriminate attack;
(b) if the rocket was incapable of being directed against specific military objectives, this also amounted the an indiscriminate attack.
2. Points (a) and (b) are valid irrespective of the fact that the missile did not reach Israel.
3. If PIJ did not issue any effective advance warnings prior to the attack where the circumstances permitted it to do so, it failed in in its precautionary obligations.
4. If PIJ located the military objectives used in the attack within or near densely populated areas, and it would have been feasible to avoid this, it committed another breach.
5. All of this is based on the customary rules of the law of armed conflict. Thus far, not only is there is zero capability or attempt to hit military targets, their high rocket failure rate ensures their rockets also hit Gaza & kill civilian Palestinians. If the blast at Al-Ahli Hospital is it proved to be a PIJ rocket, they committed a war crime — the crime is one of conduct, not result.
6. Unlike the right-wing nutcases in America or Israel, truth & adherence to the laws of war matter to me. The IDF is a profession of arms & I expect their division strike centre to be professional & more discriminate at targeting (than the Russian Army in Ukraine).
7. I hope the TV news networks, try to learn from and work on improving reporting in the high risk and high uncertainty information environment. I don’t know who is responsible for the blast at Al-Ahli Hospital. For those who claim that:
(a) one side, or
(b) the other side,
did it, at this time, they are speaking as a partisan. Often the best approach is to take a step back and acknowledge that it's a lot we don't know and present that uncertainty to to one's audience.
8. As the UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly noted, “getting this wrong would put even more lives at risk.” Jumping to conclusions on something that has potential to become very significant, with real escalation risks, is dangerous.
9. Western diplomats, in their undying earnestness, are susceptible to accusations of moral hypocrisy. But it's narcissistic to believe politicians in countries like Iran, Egypt, Jordan Turkey, or Malaysia see their interests through the prism of moral integrity. No Russian or Chinese official would even bother.
10. After what Hamas or PIJ have done to Israeli citizens & babies — they are ISIS level bad. They just want to torture, kill or kidnap to create the conditions for a global Jihad.
