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Hamas

שו”תHamas
asked 2 years ago

If Hamas had attacked only IDF bases and outposts by surprise, including killing/kidnapping soldiers and women (without rape and beheading), would this have been a legitimate military action? And in general, if a soldier is on guard duty in the territories/or just standing at a bus stop, is it considered a terrorist crime if an Arab from the territories/Gaza harms him, or is it legitimate, as in a regular war, since he belongs to the enemy army? (In the current situation, I’m not sure that this can be answered freely… but let’s try 🙂 )
This intrigues me both from a moral and international law perspective.
 

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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 2 years ago

In principle, war requires a declaration, and therefore it is contrary to the laws of war. But the justification for war (which does not exist for them) is also relevant.

אורן replied 2 years ago

What is the source of the fact that war requires a declaration? Isn't this simply implied by the enemy's actions? After all, part of the way war is waged is by surprising the enemy without declaring it in advance.

מיכי Staff replied 2 years ago

This is international law.

גבריאל replied 2 years ago

Adds that we were officially in a ceasefire with Hamas, so any offensive action by it is illegal and illegitimate.

And just as a curiosity - Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor without declaring war, which was one of the justifications for the American government to drop a nuclear bomb on Japan (in polls conducted in the United States before the bomb was dropped, about a quarter of citizens thought that Japan should be completely destroyed)

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