In the debate over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, two questions about the laws of war have driven the discussion. First, is Israel intentionally targeting civilians, as Hamas did in its attack on Oct. 7? Second, assuming Israel is not intentionally targeting them, is its “incidental” killing of civilians “disproportionate” relative to the military gains it seeks to obtain? If so, even if any resulting deaths might be arguably “proportionate” and “incidental,” they could still be considered war crimes. The laws of war on civilian targeting are laid out in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, and war crimes as well as crimes against humanity are further defined by the Rome Statute founding the International Criminal Court.
