Geneva Conventions at 74: How have they been violated in Israel's war on Gaza?

Monday marks 74 years since the four Geneva Conventions were adopted on 12 August 1949.

While the codifying of conventions was seen as a milestone, this year's anniversary is marked amid growing regional tensions and wars, notably Israel's war on Gaza.

With roots dating back to the 19th century, the conventions outline rules around the conduct of war, prohibiting acts such as torture and sexual violence and covers how detainees and missing persons should be treated.

The Geneva Conventions were established to protect people not participating in hostilities, including the wounded and sick, the shipwrecked, prisoners of war and civilians.

Most of the countries around the world have adopted the conventions since they were finalised, with rights groups, UN bodies and government’s urging for them to be adhered to over the decades.

On Monday, the UN Commissioner-General of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) highlighted how many of the conventions have been breached in the ongoing war on Gaza.

"In the past 10 months, these rules have been blatantly broken day in, day out in Gaza by the Israeli forces as well as the Palestinian armed groups including Hamas," Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.

"Our shared values enshrined In the Conventions are at stake as is our shared humanity. It is time to re-instate those values and re-commit to the Conventions," he continued.

Here, The New Arab looks at some of the Geneva Conventions that have been broken in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Protecting the sick, wounded and religious personnel

The conventions state that all wounded or sick should be respected and protected in all circumstances, under Article 12, which specifies they should be cared for and any attempt of violence against them is prohibited.

It also states, "women shall be treated with all consideration due to their sex."

Israel has repeatedly violated these rules, most notably through the killing of children, sick and the elderly.

One such example is the killing of Mohammed Bhar, 24, who had Down syndrome and was left to die after Israeli forces unleashed a combat dog on him, mauling him in July.

Bhar’s decomposing body was found a week later by his family, who saw him last at the home they were sheltering in following heavy raids on the Shujaiya neighbourhood. His family said that he could not speak, but from the sheer horror kept telling the dogs "enough, my dear."

Following the outbreak of the war on Gaza, over 100 incubator babies were left in danger of dying due to Israel cutting off all fuel for the enclave.

In December, the Washington Post reported Israeli bombardment cut off the Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital oxygen supplies. At least four premature babies were left at the hospital after the Israeli army gave an ultimatum for everyone in the facility to leave or be bombarded.

Weeks later, a Gaza journalist went back to the neonatal intensive care unit to discover the decomposing bodies of the four babies, eaten by worms and blackened by mould.

Flouting the conventions further, Israel has launched attacks on religious personnel and buildings, including mosques and churches.

Last month, the pastor of the Greek Catholic church in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah raised the alarm over the "extermination" of Christians in Gaza.

Father Abdullah July said that the number of Christians killed in the enclave since October has topped 50 people.

He added that Christians have been under immense pressure from Israeli forces to leave the enclave, highlighting that if attacks against the community continue, the Christian presence in Gaza will be reduced to “mere historical memories and churches will turn into museums”.

A survey by a Ramallah-based NGO Palestinian Association for Empowerment and local Development has also found that Palestinian women are particularly facing several crises amidst Israeli bombardment, from being unable to cater for their hygiene, sanitary, pregnancy needs, to displacement, food insecurity and other hardships.

Treating prisoners of war with humanity

Both Israel and Hamas have taken prisoners of war, with rights groups and international organisations calling for them to be released.

Other than the 39,897 Palestinians killed in Gaza, and over 500 killed in the occupied West Bank since October, there is also an unknown number of Palestinians in Gaza who have been detained and taken to makeshift detention centres or other unknown locations.

Numerous examples of Israeli forces abusing detainees from Gaza have come to light since the start of war.

Earlier this month, a video leaked from an Israeli detention camp purportedly showing the abuse of a Palestinian prisoner has added to mounting allegations of sexual abuse and torture of Palestinian detainees.

The video, aired by Israel's Channel 12 broadcaster on Wednesday, documents Israeli soldiers allegedly sexually assaulting a Palestinian man at Israel’s Sde Teiman, a secret imprisonment camp in the Negev desert set up after 7 October.

The Guardian also reported that in one example of physical and mental abuse, one man had his limb amputated as a result of constant handcuffing.

A source said the Israeli military had no proof that detainees were all members of Hamas. Many of the detainees are stripped to their underwear, blindfolded and tied up.

According to Amnesty International, an estimated 116 people are believed to be held captive by Hamas. Around 240 were taken during the attack on Israel on 7 October, but some have been killed in Israeli bombardment, and others were released during a temporary truce and prisoner exchange deal.

Protect all civilians, including those in occupied territory

Israel has repeatedly violated humanitarian laws and conventions by cutting off all fuel, water and aid for Gaza since October, putting all of the territory's population at risk.

Around 90 percent of people in Gaza have been displaced since October, some over 10 times, the UN said.

The UN has also said that experts have substantiated reports of "widespread abuse, torture, sexual assault and rape, amid atrocious inhumane conditions."

Testimonies detail Palestinian civilians being held in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, stripped naked, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep, electric shocks including on their genitals, blackmail and cigarette burns.

The UN also recorded victims saying they experienced loud music played until their ears bled, attacks by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual and gender-based violence.

There is also evidence which shows that Israel has committed war crimes by wiping out entire families in Gaza. Amnesty International reported in October that Israel failed to take feasible precautions to spare civilians from indiscriminate attacks.

Under international law, all parties must distinguish between civilians and military objectives, however Israeli bombardment has levelled entire residential neighbourhoods, where generations of Palestinians lived.

In one example cited by Amnesty International, generations of the Al-Dos family were wiped out.

In less than one month of war on the enclave, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that 47 Palestinian families had been completely erased from the civil registry, based on information from hospital reports.

As well as continued assaults on Gaza, violence against Palestinians has also erupted in the West Bank, with an uptick in Israeli raids. At least 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October, and at least 10,000 others arrested, Palestinian prisoner groups say.

Settler attacks against Palestinians have also markedly increased, with Amnesty International noting they set fire to homes, trees and vehicles in a “decades long state-backed campaign to dispossess, displace and oppress Palestinians…under Israel’s system of apartheid".

Protection of hospital zones and medical establishments

Despite article 23 of the Geneva Convention stating that hospitals should be spared, and measures should be taken to ensure they suffer as little as possible, Israel has repeatedly targeted medical facilities.

Israeli airstrikes have completely damaged Gaza’s health sector, with less than 13 out of 36 hospitals partially functioning, according to a report in July from the UN.

A Forensic Architecture investigation found that 471 Palestinians and over 340 others wounded when Israeli targeted the Al-Ahli al Arab Hospital in Gaza City in on 17 October.

While Israeli officials suggested that the cause of the explosion was a failed Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, the investigation disputes the claim and states a missile was launched from outside Gaza, near to a known Israeli missile launch site that is part of its ‘Iron Dome’ air defence system.

"The shape of the missile’s trajectory, turning twice in mid-air, again suggests that this is a guided Israeli interceptor, rather than a Palestinian rocket which would follow the arc of a ballistic trajectory," the investigation notes.

Other hospitals and medical facilities, personnel, and ambulances have also been targeted since then, including, staff working for the Palestinian Red Crescent, aid workers for the World Central Kitchen.

In March, Israeli forces stormed the Al-Shifa hospital using tanks and gunfire, while the Al Nassr hospital, Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, Dar Essalam, Qatari Hospital, Beit Hanoun Hospital were also damaged, amongst many others.

More than 39 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, while others are unable to get hold of medical assistance or medication.

Surgeons working in Gaza described having to work in "medieval" conditions, lacking anaesthetic, hospital beds and tools.

Doctors who worked in hospitals explained having to reuse scalpel blades, causing infection rates to rise.

Attacks on objects indispensable to civilian survival

Several articles of the Geneva Conventions forbid attacks on civilians and "objects indispensable to civilian survival," including crops, irrigation systems, drinking water sources, cultural objects and places of worship.

All of the above have been destroyed or partially damaged in Israel’s war on the besieged enclave, plunging Gaza into a deep humanitarian crisis.

Sewage systems, bakeries, supermarkets, residential buildings have all been targeted in Gaza, leaving civilians unable to live a normal life.

Palestinians have been forced to seek shelter in schools and makeshift tents after being displaced from their homes.

Some have dubbed the war an example of "cultural genocide", as over 200 historically important sites have been destroyed or damaged, over 12 universities bombed in the first 100 days of war and 80 percent of schools damaged in what has been called "scholasticide."

Gaza’s central archive was also bombed in December, along with over 1,000 mosques as of January this year.