Palestinian Journalist: Hamas's Systematic Use Of Hospitals For Military Purposes Is A War Crime And A Violation Of International Law

Memri

3 days ago

In a column published recently on the Saudi website Elaph and in the Emirati daily Al-Arab, Palestinian journalist Abd Al-Bari Fayyad castigated Hamas for systematically using hospitals and other civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip for military purposes, and for using Gazan civilians as human shields. The movement's familiar method of digging tunnels under hospitals in which its senior members hide, he said, places patients, medical staff and other innocent civilians in direct danger. As such, it constitutes a war crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which requires the parties in armed conflict to distinguish between military targets and civilian facilities. "No one denies the right of peoples to resist occupation," he stressed, "but this right does not grant any faction the authority to use civilians as fuel for the war."
It should be noted that Fayyad regularly publishes articles that harshly criticize Hamas for prioritizing its own interests and fighting to retain its control of the Gaza Strip at the expense of the Palestinian people and their needs.[1]
Abd Al-Bari Fayyad (Image: Alwasattoday.com)
The following are translated excerpts from Fayyad's recent article: [2]
"In Gaza, which is groaning under the burden of the conflict, bitter facts are exposed that cast a heavy pall over the concept of humanity and redefine the principles of modern warfare. This is because, amid the untenable war that has befallen the region, details are being revealed that point to the systematic use of sensitive civilian facilities for military purposes, which casts a dark shadow over the future of the conflict and its humanitarian implications.
"Intelligence revealed in the recent period indicates that senior Hamas leaders, form Muhammad Sinwar to Muhammad Shabana,[3] spent long periods in a tunnel that was excavated beneath the European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. The presence of these leaders in this location was no coincidence, but clearly reflects a deliberate strategy of using an unmistakable civilian facility – a hospital – as cover for [Hamas's] military activity. A hospital, a sanctuary for the sick and the injured, which is supposed to be immune to the ravages of war, becomes a pivotal military site, thus placing innocent people, patients and medical staff in direct danger.
"The decision to operate from within a densely-populated civilian area is not random; it is a calculated tactic designed to achieve a double objective. First, this location provides ideal cover for military movements and operations, while exploiting the immunity granted by international law to medical facilities. Second, [this tactic] forces civilians to serve as human shields, which complicates the military response of the other side [i.e., Israel], enrages international public opinion and generates intensive pressure on the warring sides. This tactic is not a new feature of Hamas's strategy; it has been documented in numerous reports and constitutes a flagrant violation of the most basic principles of international humanitarian law.
"The humanitarian implications of using civilian areas for armed operations are innumerable. Hospitals, schools and homes all become potential targets, which leads to a vast number of innocent civilian casualties. The humanitarian crisis intensifies with the destruction of basic infrastructures, the displacement of the population and the increasing need for emergency aid. [In this situation] the lives of the civilians become a daily hell, for they live under incessant bombing and in permanent fear of death that pursues them everywhere. Trust in the institutions that are meant to provide them with protection evaporates and the fabric of society unravels, which lights the fuse of [further] hatred and violence, in a vicious circle.
"This is where the role of international humanitarian law comes in, [namely,] the legal framework that is meant to constrain war and limit its damage. International humanitarian law stresses the principle of distinction, which requires the parties to an [armed] conflict to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and between military targets and civilian facilities. It especially stresses [the need to] protect medical facilities and their staff, and defines it as a crime to use them for military purposes. Positioning military leaders in tunnels beneath a hospital is a flagrant violation of these principles and constitutes a war crime by any standard.
"Hamas will no doubt deny these allegations, or provide explanations to justify the presence of its leaders in such places. It is likely to claim that these tunnels are used for defensive purposes or that they are not part of the hospital itself. It may focus on the suffering of the Palestinian people and blame the other side for the destruction of the civilian infrastructures. However, regardless of all the excuses, the use of civilian facilities – and especially hospitals – as cover for military activities is an unforgivable breach of international law, [a breach] which causes the [Hamas] movement to lose much international sympathy.
"No one denies the right of peoples to resist occupation, but this right does not grant any faction the authority to use civilians as fuel for the war. Using hospitals and residential areas for military activities is not 'tactical wisdom' but a blatant violation of military and legal ethics that transforms the conflict from a war against the occupation into a human tragedy whose price is paid by the Gazan families that [find themselves] trapped between the hammer of the occupation and the anvil of Hamas's decisions.
"The more difficult question is this: When will the resistance [i.e., Hamas] move from the strategy of 'survival at the cost of human life' to resistance that respects the lives of those it purports to protect?"