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Israel orders more evacuations in Lebanon, threatens medics who treat Hezbollah members (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
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[+] -25 points 2 years ago (5 children)

What the IDF actually said:

In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson threatened that it would target “any vehicle carrying armed men, regardless of its type.”

Using ambulances to transport active combatants is a war crime and the vehicle loses its protection.

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  • [–] 36 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The IDF literally masqueraded as medical personnel and assaulted a hospital while still in medical garb. Just saying...

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  • [+] -18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)
    [removed by mod]
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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    That was a special police operation, IIRC, where IHL doesn’t apply.

    Using military personnel in a military occupied country, is a "special police operation", huh?. It sounds like just redefining things now. Like the special military operation of Putin which is totally not an invasion of a sovereign nation.

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  • [+] -16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    I looked up the event you’re probably referring to. It was in area A, so even if it was a police unit, these should be considered combatants and international conflict. Operating in area A is a breach of the Oslo accords for Israeli forces.

    The squad executing the targeted killing of one militant in the hospital were clothed in different civilian clothes (men, women) as you can see in the video. Only a minority of them wore medical uniforms.

    The article doesn’t say, but I remember reading somewhere that it was a border police operation. The IDF and Israeli police forces have special units that specialize in undercover work and blending in with the Palestinian Arab population.

    One could argue that covert infiltration and targeted killing avoided civilian casualties that would have occurred using a uniformed frontal assault.

    Under IHL these Israeli operatives would be classified as spies and not get protections reserved to prisoners of war.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The article doesn’t say, but I remember reading somewhere that it was a border police operation.

    I don't think we can rely on your imperfect memory. As far as I'm concerned. this was a war crime, much worse than what IDF is complaining about in the OP since it was actually clear and not just "we killed them, therefore they were combatants" CYA.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago*

    Also, would it even fucking matter if the people who committed the war crime calls it something else?

    Like I could not fucking care less that Israel called it a "border police operation," it's blatant war crimes.

    I'm having a hard time believing that this person in this thread defending this shit even believes it. How could anyone.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So the Lebanese police too?

    Just declaring anyone with a rifle as part of the enemy is a wild way to get yourself in front of the Hague.

    But also no. It depends on what the ambulance is doing. Going to the hospital? That's a war crime. Moving armed soldiers to the Frontline, that's a target.

    It's not nearly as simple as gun=target. This is the military, not the American police.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So it's also a war crime when Israel treat IDF soldiers with your logic

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  • [+] -16 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Treating wounded is never a war crime.

    If a combatant is hors de combat, no longer able to fight, then they are no longer a valid military objective.

    If the IDF shuttles soldiers ready to fight to the front using an ambulance, it’s a war crime. Shuttling injured soldiers from the front to the back is not a war crime.

    Hezbollah and also Palestinian militant groups have been observed to use ambulances to do the former.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    It's just an IDF accusations. No independent investigation confirmed it

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  • [+] -9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    There are independent investigations from the 2006 Lebanon war documenting similar cases. You can also find this for previous wars in Gaza and the West Bank.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    An injured fighter is no longer a combatant and entitled to medical treatment like any other human being.

    But by blowing up the ambulance so that only body parts can be found after, it can always be claimed that the patients were still healthy before being bombed.

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  • [+] -15 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Specific ambulances are only attacked if there’s intelligence like surveillance that says it’s being used to transport combatants or weapons. If all ambulances were systematically targeted, all ambulances would camouflage as civilian vehicles.

    You are correct that persons hors de combat are protected.

    Evidence in war zones is always difficult, especially when combatants don’t wear uniforms. You can easily make a combatant look like a civilian, by removing the weapons from the scene. Making civilians look like combatants just takes putting a weapon next to their body. Independent neutral investigators will rarely arrive at a scene before one of the belligerent forces.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Specific ambulances are only attacked if there’s intelligence like surveillance that says it’s being used to transport combatants or weapons

    Yeah? You actually believe this?

    As the person above you said, there is no way to confirm any of it because they blew it the fuck up. For all we know, it was transporting injured fighters out of the warzone. Blowing that up (and then later lying about it) is something the IDF 1000% would do without thinking twice. It's their M.O.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Classic Guardian.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago*

    The Guardian are pretty much the voice of New Labour, who are totally in bed with Israel (they're still sending them weapons and even sent surveillance planes to help them in Gaza).

    If The Guardian is actually critical of Israel and the IDF that's a pretty good indication that the Zionist Genocide has already burned most of their good will even in Britain which is one of the most right wing states in Europe and has a history of invariably either being one or supporting White Colonist States in their Genocides of the locals (remember how they supported Appartheid until the last minute and even called Mandela "a terrorist"?!).

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