Demolition for Alleged Military Necessity

Demolition for Alleged Military Purposes - Collective Punishment

1 January 2011

Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbids collective punishment and states that a person shall not be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. This article explicitly relates to administrative punishment imposed on persons or groups because of acts that they did not personally commit. Article 50 of the Hague Regulations states a comparable prohibition.

The IDF Spokesperson contended that, "The purpose of these exposing acts is not to punish the Palestinian populations, but rather to provide a solution for a specific and defined security need." In light of the extensive use of the policy and its horrendous consequences for the civilian population, this argument cannot be accepted.

The houses and the orchards destroyed by the soldiers belonged to Palestinians whom even Israel does not contend were involved in any way in attacks on Israeli civilians or security forces. Despite this, these Palestinians lost, as a result of the IDF acts, their homes and livelihood. Furthermore, they were not even given the opportunity to be heard by any official and were not compensated at all for their losses (on this issue, see below). The IDF is likely very aware of these consequences of its policy. Therefore, its argument that it does not seek to punish the Palestinian population is meaningless.

In some of the cases, the IDF's destruction of property took place immediately after Palestinians attacked Israeli civilians or security forces. In other cases, the IDF destroyed property in locations other than where the Palestinian attack occurred. This phenomenon raises the concern that the objective of these acts was to punish the Palestinians for the attack and to deter others from committing similar acts. Destruction of property as an act of revenge or punishment is absolutely forbidden. The commentary published by the ICRC on Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that the purpose of the article is to prevent precisely those acts that are intended to forestall breaches of the law by the civilian population.

A policy that harms thousands of innocent people and whose consequences are so horrendous and long lasting constitutes collective punishment, which is forbidden by international humanitarian law.

Since the beginning of the occupation, Israel has made extensive use of means that constitute collective punishment. Among these are sweeping restrictions on freedom of movement in the Occupied Territories, closure of educational institutions, and demolition of houses as punishment. Israel currently employs these means as an integral part of its policy in the Occupied Territories. The demolition of houses and destruction of agricultural land discussed above are a direct continuation of this policy.

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Structures that Israel demolished along the border in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo by Susana Vera, Reuters, 18 Feb. 2024

The Gaza Strip

Establishing a “security zone” in Gaza is a war crime

During the very first month of the war in Gaza, in early November 2023, Israel started working on a buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip. According to media reports, it will be about one kilometer wide, stretch along the entire border with Israel, about 60 kilometers, and feature military posts, paved roads and surveillance devices. The area will be off limits to Palestinians – even those who lived or cultivated fields in it before the war.To create the buffer zone, Israel is currently destroying almost everything in the area it has designated for it, including residential buildings, public structures such as schools, medical clinics and mosques, fields, groves and greenhouses. A soldier involved in this work described it as “flattening everything”. Reservist testimonies confirm that the demolitions are carried out to clear the way for a security zone rather than as a response to intelligence information or findings in the field. Only buildings belonging to UNRWA or donated by the European Union, such as water reservoirs and wastewater treatment facilities, are left standing.Satellite images published by the media reveal the immense damage caused by the military, including the demolition of entire residential neighborhoods and public buildings hundreds of meters from the border, and the destruction of extensive farmland in other areas. According to a study by Adi Ben Nun of the Geography Department at the Hebrew University, by 17 January 2024, the Israeli military demolished 1,072 of 2,824 structures located a kilometer or less from the border, most of which were homes. Bin Nun says the most densely populated area being cleared is near Khan Yunis, where, within a one-kilometer range from the border, 704 of 1,048 buildings – almost 70% – have been demolished. Corey Scher of City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University put the damage even higher, estimating at least 1,329 buildings in this area have been destroyed.The destruction in Beit Hanoun is a case in point. Satellite images show an entire neighborhood ruined, including more than 150 residential buildings, schools and two hospitals. The surrounding farmland was destroyed, too. Another example of this policy is the town of Khuza’a, which lies opposite the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz and has homes closest to the border. The military demolished the entire town, including residential buildings and mosques, as well as surrounding farmland and greenhouses.Israel has not officially admitted its intention to create a “security zone” along the border. The IDF Spokesperson and other official sources have repeatedly claimed the massive demolition is a response to Hamas actions and that all affected homes, roads and farmlands were “terrorist infrastructure.” For example, in response to an article on the planned buffer zone, the IDF Spokesperson stated that Hamas“unlawfully embedded military assets inside densely populated civilian areas... The IDF identifies and destroys terrorist infrastructure located, among other things, within structures in these areas. In some cases, entire neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip have become combat complexes used for ambushes, command, control centers, weapon depots, combat tunnels, observation posts, firing positions, booby-trapped homes and roadside explosive devices.”However, other official statements clarify that Israel considers establishing a buffer zone as crucial for civilian defense. According to one statement by the military, it “is part of the imperative actions that are needed in order to implement a defense plan that will provide improved security in Southern Israel”. The IDF Spokesperson explained that the military was demolishing buildings in Gaza as part of the buffer zone effort.Yet, this cannot justify widespread demolition inside Gaza and the creation of a “security zone.” The demolitions carried out by Israel for this purpose are unlawful and constitute a war crime: they are a preventive measure intended to thwart a future threat, and demolition for such purposes is absolutely prohibited.International humanitarian law, which determines what parties to hostilities may – and primarily may not – do, allows targeting military objects only. To be considered a legitimate target, an object must meet two criteria: it must make an effective contribution to military action, and its destruction must provide a clear military advantage to the attacking side. This requires examining the actual use of the buildings and areas demolished, and not their potential future use.Destroying private property is permissible only in highly exceptional cases. It is explicitly prohibited, among other things, as a means to deter, intimidate or retaliate against the civilian population, or to deliberately cause prolonged or permanent damage. In addition, the extensive scope of destruction carried out by Israel violates a basic principle of international humanitarian law, proportionality, which prohibits actions that cause excessive harm to persons not participating in hostilities and their property, relative to the military advantage expected from the action.Creating a “security zone” inside the Gaza Strip is not a new idea for Israel. Even before the war, the military restricted Palestinian access to areas located some 300 meters from the perimeter fence, treating them as “no-go zones,” though Israel never officially announced this policy or clarified to the Palestinians precisely where access was restricted. The ban was nevertheless enforced by the military through open-fire regulations that allowed shooting Palestinians present in those areas even if they posed no threat. From September 2005, when Israel implemented “disengagement plan” to 6 October 2023 (excluding periods of fighting), at least 88 Palestinians who did not participate in hostilities were killed in these areas. The military has also enforced the ban by spraying herbicides on crops near the fence.Israel’s policy profoundly altered the area along the border. Before the ban, residents cultivated fruit trees and grazed sheep and cattle there. After the ban was imposed, farmers switched to crops that require less care and which the military cannot argue obstruct its field of vision, such as wheat, barley, beans and vegetables.Creating a “security zone” within the Gaza Strip will drastically change the area, with long-term implications. It will shrink the territory of Gaza, already one of the most crowded areas in the world. Thousands of residents will be unable to return home, communities will be destroyed, and entire lives built over years will be ruined. The widespread damage to farmland will also affect food production capacity in Gaza, harming farmers’ livelihoods and the future nutrition of Gaza residents.Nazih Abu Rabi’, a 50-year-old father of seven, lived about a kilometer from the border. When the war began, he fled his home and is currently in Deir al-Balah. In late January, a relative told him the military had destroyed his home and olive grove, along with about 20 homes nearby. What he said to B’Tselem field researcher Khaled ‘Azayzeh illustrates the impact of Israel’s policy:I wasn’t surprised when my nephew told me, but I felt deep sorrow because I lost all my property after years of effort. I put everything I earned into building the house, which was demolished in seconds. I was planning to build another floor for one of my sons, and to build another house on my plot of land. I’m very worried, because I don’t know if we will be able to go back to our land and build there again. I was born and raised on that land, and my father and grandfather before me. I have no other home.”

21 February 2024

Jenin refugee camp today. Photo by Wahab Bani Moufleh / Activestills

Open-Fire Policy

Jenin Refugee Camp is not a battlefield - it is the home of thousands of people

For more than 24 hours now, the Israeli military has been operating inside the densely populated Jenin R.C. as if it were a battlefield and not a place where human beings live, work, study and dream. Until now, reports have come in of aerial strikes and a ground invasion by tanks, APCs, bulldozers and hundreds of soldiers. Ten people have reportedly been killed so far, and hundreds injured, some critically. Evacuating the wounded has been a challenge as the military destroyed roads inside the camp as well as access roads to it. Hospitals are overrun and having difficulty providing the injured who have been evacuated with the care they need. Water, power and internet services have reportedly been cut off, and medical centers have sustained damage. Homes and other private property have also sustained massive damage. Thousands of civilians - children, women, men and the elderly - have been forced to flee their homes, some without knowing where they might go. As far as the Israeli government is concerned, these actions are a necessity, part of its “fight against terrorism.” This implied assertion was unquestioningly accepted across the political spectrum in Israel, with members of almost every party rallying around the government, along with many in the international community. But the fighting in the refugee camp is not divorced from the objectives of the apartheid regime, which has been working for years to advance Jewish supremacy throughout the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River and military control over the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Committing massive human rights abuses while ignoring the humanity of Palestinians reflects the regime’s worldview. Contrary to what policymakers in the military and the government say, such widespread intentional harm to civilians is unlawful and flies in the face of humanity’s basic moral norms. Some actions are out of bounds, even if it is a “war against terrorism,” and certainly when the agenda is advancing racist, violent political goals. Policymakers refuse to distinguish between what is permitted and what is not, what is legitimate and what is criminal, what is humane and what is cruel. For the Israeli public, large swathes of which have for months been fighting against government plans that threaten to violate their rights - here is an opportunity to oppose human rights violations by the same government that are taking place right now. The international community has an obligation to set boundaries for Israel and act decisively to stop its attack on Jenin Refugee Camp.

4 July 2023

Family by remains of their possessions after most recent demolition. Taken from video footage

Communities Facing Expulsion

Repeat demolitions of Khirbet Humsah are test case for international community

Yesterday, Israel demolished the Palestinian community of Khirbet Humsah for the fourth time, following twice last week and once in November 2020. These actions – carried out in the midst of a humanitarian crisis caused by the pandemic — are part of Israel’s efforts to forcibly transfer the community on spurious pretexts of “military training” and “law enforcement.” Yesterday, Monday, 8 February 2021, Israel again confiscated most of the residential structures and livestock enclosures in the community of Khirbet Humsah al-Foqa. Civil Administration personnel dismantled and confiscated nine tents that were home to 61 people, including 33 minors, as well as 12 other structures which included shade sails, storage shacks and a water container. They also demolished five livestock enclosures. In addition, the forces confiscated three vehicles that do not belong to the community (a tractor belonging to the local council, a Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation car, and a vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Authority’s Commission against the Wall and the Settlements). Last week, too, on Monday (1 February 2021) and Wednesday (3 February), Israel confiscated most of the community’s residential structures and livestock enclosures, in two massive operations. On Monday, the forces: Dismantled and confiscated 13 tents that were home to 11 families, numbering 74 people including 41 minors; two of the families had temporarily relocated to the Furush Beit Dajan area after their homes were demolished last November. Dismantled and confiscated five shacks, one not yet built, and eight tents, all used for livestock. On Wednesday, the forces returned and: Dismantled and confiscated seven tents that were home to nine families, numbering 61 people including 33 minors (the same families whose tents were demolished on Monday). Dismantled and confiscated five tents and two shacks that served as livestock enclosures, as well as three livestock pens. Confiscated four portable outhouses and demolished two others. Confiscated three disassembled tents and demolished two tents used for tabun ovens. Confiscated a vehicle belonging to a Palestinian human rights activist and another vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Authority’s Commission against the Wall and the Settlements. That evening (Wednesday), military troops arrived at Khirbet Humsah, declared it a closed military zone and tried to prevent reconstruction of the demolished structures. These demolitions are part of Israel’s policy, enacted throughout the West Bank, to make Palestinians’ lives unbearable, in order to force them to leave their homes, concentrate them in enclaves and take over their land. This policy constitutes an attempt at forcible transfer — which is defined as a war crime under international humanitarian law. The responsibility for its execution lies first and foremost with the political decision-makers leading it, the senior military command carrying it out, and the Supreme Court lending it a legal stamp of approval. So far, the international community has shirked its duty to obligate Israel to uphold the human rights of the Palestinians subjected to its control, making do with feeble remonstrations. This latest spate of demolitions is a test of the international community’s commitment to its own laws and to the values it professes to cherish. In particular, they are a test for the new administration in Washington, as the repeated demolitions of Khirbet Humsah have taken place during its first days in office. By remaining silent, the new US administration is upholding the green light the Trump administration gave Israel to continue its violent policy of dispossession. Last Friday, 5 February 2021, the International Criminal Court in the Hague (ICC) ruled that its jurisdiction applies to the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. In doing so, the justices enabled the tribunal’s prosecutor to launch an investigation, including against Israelis suspected of committing war crimes in these territories. Hopefully, the ICC’s ruling will restrain Israel and deter it from the continued implementation of this policy.

9 February 2021