The paper critically evaluates the supposed human-rights abuses of the Gaza conflict through the prism of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). It involves the interrogation of the application, interpretation, and, in some respects, possible violation of the main principles of IHL (distinction, proportionality, and precaution) by the parties of the conflict using the purely case-study approach.
Based on the normative framework presented by the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, the paper critically evaluates the hostilities that define the special protection accorded to civilians, the medical staff, humanitarian services, relief movement, and civilian infrastructure.
Publicly available documents (including the deliberations of the United Nations, the recommendations made by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the reports of independent fact-finding commissions) form the empirical basis of the analysis. Taken together, these sources help to understand the regular trends of the civilian deaths, the systematic devastation of the most important infrastructure, and the constant obstacles to humanitarian access, as well as the accusations of unlawful targeting and indiscriminate harm.
Moreover, the research criticizes the legal provisions of war crimes as the formulated Rome Statute, questioning the meeting of IHL and international human-rights law in the sphere of armed-conflict, specifically in the right to life, humane treatment and the procedural due process during arrest.
The findings highlight the lack of responsibility which is eminent everywhere and underscores the very challenges of imposing compliance in overcrowded settings. This substantiates the claim that the principle of military necessity should not take the place of the need to protect the lives of civilians.
In general, the paper lists a series of remedial actions that are aimed at strengthening enforcement mechanisms, increasing the paradigm of investigative activities and protecting humanitarian interventions strategies that, given their adoption, would significantly decrease civilian deaths and improve the compliance with the regulatory scheme in future operations.