Jabalia bombing sparks outcry over war crimes.
Last night, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) scored itself what it would consider a prized scalp - it killed Ibrahim Biari, one of Hamas’s leaders responsible for the October 7 attacks.
The killing of Biari is one thing. It’s hard to imagine the world will be mourning the loss of Biari.
However, the world should be enraged by the ongoing war crimes the IDF continues to commit and its justification of its relentless bombings in Gaza to eliminate Hamas.
The number of innocent Palestinians killed in the bombing of a Jabalia refugee camp yesterday to kill Biari should concern everyone.
If the IDF did kill Biari, it should have adopted a different method to take him out than just bomb an entire refugee camp and kill hundreds of innocent people - the life of one combatant is not worth more than 400 hundred innocent people’s lives.
Streaming live on YouTube, the world now watches what’s taking place in Gaza – the need for news and information contradicts the morbidity of witnessing the actuality in real time death and destruction.
And as the world watched in horror as explosions resonated through the northern parts of Gaza, and the obliteration of apartment blocks, with countless casualties seeking urgent medical care, what continues to fuel intense debate is the morality, ethics, and legality of the strike on the Jabalia refugee camp by the IDF.
The IDF's operation was successful in its mission to kill Biari, but not at the cost of hundreds of innocent Palestinian lives?
According to a statement by the IDF, the strike was a part of a broader effort aimed to dismantle the terror infrastructure of the Central Jabalia Battalion, which had allegedly established its base within civilian structures in Gaza City.
But it’s the aftermath of the strike which paints a disturbingly bleak picture.
The Health Ministry of the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip reported the tragic loss of hundreds of lives with hundreds of more injured.
The harrowing images following the bombing, show bodies being extracted from the ruins with many more to follow.
Videos aired on Palestinian television depicted desperate rescue attempts by locals, using their bare hands, to sift through debris, uncovering both survivors and casualties – a significant number of them being children.
With Jabalia being the most populous of the Gaza Strip's eight refugee camps, housing around 116,000 registered Palestinians as the magnitude of potential civilian casualties remains alarmingly high.
The bombing has reignited the debate on the parameters of wartime engagement.
While targeting hostile combatants is considered a legitimate military objective, International Humanitarian Law (IHL) stresses the principles of proportionality, distinction, and precaution to protect civilians and civilian infrastructures.
The alarming number of innocent Palestinian casualties in the Jabalia strike raises questions about the adherence to the IHL’s principles.
The broader context of this strike is the escalated conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The warfare intensified notably when Israeli ground forces advanced into the Gaza Strip, aiming to neutralize Hamas after the group's assault on Israel.
As the conflict continues to unfold, Israel's commitment to a prolonged and expanding war is evident, with early goals emphasising the dismantling of Hamas’s command system.
Regardless of the IDF’s strategic objectives, the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza cannot be overlooked.
With an already strained healthcare system, the Indonesian Hospital, one of Gaza's largest, is grappling with medical and fuel shortages, further exacerbated by the inflow of injured individuals from recent strikes.
As the battles rage on and military objectives pursued, the overarching humanitarian concerns continue to persist.
The question remains - how can anyone reconcile morally military imperatives with the principles of IHL?
And, more significantly, in the face of such substantial the overwhelmingly growing number of innocent Palestinians that continue to lose their lives, with many of them children, casualties, is the bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp justified, or does it edge perilously close to the realm of war crimes?
The international community now has to stand up and declare what it sees as legitimate defence and the protection of innocent lives.