Collective punishment is a war crime. Israel is doing it anyway

Middle East Eye

22-03-2025

Israel Katz made remarks this week that solidified something legal experts have long stated: Israel is collectively punishing the people of Gaza.
The defence minister published a video directly addressed to 'the residents of Gaza', issuing a 'last warning'.
'Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume, and what follows will be far more severe: you will pay the full price,' he warned.
He called on Palestinians in the enclave to return Israeli captives and expel Hamas. 'The alternative is utter destruction and devastation.'
Collective punishment - defined as an action taken against a group in response to an act committed by individuals thought to be part of that group - is a war crime.
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During armed conflict, collective punishment is prohibited against prisoners of war and 'protected persons'.
Palestinian civilians in Gaza are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention, as non-combatants living under occupation.
And yet, in recent days, Israeli rhetoric and actions appear to be punishing a group which bears no responsibility for any crimes.
This is a message to the residents of Gaza: The first Sinwar destroyed Gaza, and the second Sinwar will bring its complete ruin. Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume, and what follows will be far more severe—you will pay the full price. Return the… pic.twitter.com/zkLCwXHX43 — ישראל כ'ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) March 19, 2025
'Using civilians as an instrument for waging war, by promising 'total devastation' if the hostages are not returned and Hamas removed, is fundamentally contrary to international humanitarian law,' Shane Darcy, a senior lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Galway, told Middle East Eye.
For over two weeks, Israel has blocked all aid trucks from entering the Gaza Strip. Electricity has been cut for over a week now.
Doctors Without Borders accused Israel of blocking aid 'as a bargaining chip in war'. Egypt and Saudi Arabia labelled the cutting of electricity as collective punishment.
'Israel's current policies amount to collective punishment but more specifically starvation as a method of war,' Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, a researcher at the London School of Economics focused on the international regulation of war, told MEE.
Such extreme measures have been utilised by Israel consistently since the war began in October 2023.
Darcy, who is an expert on collective responsibility and punishment, said the denial of food, electricity and aid by Israel was 'the most egregious example of collective punishment in this or indeed any recent conflict'.
'The extreme nature of such collective punishment, including those imposed more recently, points to the genocidal logic underpinning such actions by Israel.'
He noted that collective punishment was something Israel had been doing for decades in the Palestinian territories.
'The demolition of houses as a form of punishment - a practice based on British Mandate-era regulations and repeatedly upheld by the Israeli courts - is one of the clearest examples.'
Katz could be sought for arrest by ICC
Israel's resumption of war this week has also been labelled as collective punishment by Ireland's prime minister.
Israeli forces unilaterally ended the fragile Gaza ceasefire on Tuesday morning with a wave of devastating attacks in densely populated areas.
The military said the target was Hamas commanders and infrastructure. But it was hundreds of civilians who were waking up to eat pre-dawn meals during Ramadan who were massacred.
Of over 600 killed since Israel resumed the war, more than 200 were children.
In Katz's video address, a day after the attacks began, he said it was 'only the first step' and what would follow would be 'significantly worse'.
'I expect that the ICC prosecutor will eventually request arrest warrants against him as well'
- Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, academic
'What Katz does is signal that the objective of the military operation is to cause terror among the civilian population,' said Gurmendi Dunkelberg.
'This also means that he is acknowledging that it is this civilian population, and not exclusively Hamas, that is the object of the attack.'
The researcher added that such a statement was relevant not only for war crimes prosecution, but also genocide.
'I expect that the ICC prosecutor will eventually request arrest warrants against [Katz] as well.'
Katz's predecessor, Yoav Gallant, is already being sought by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
He along with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, are charged with starvation of civilians as a method of war, wilfully causing great suffering, wilful killing, intentional attacks on a civilian population and extermination, among other charges.
Darcy said that Israel's most recent violations, alongside numerous other potential crimes, should be the subject of prosecution in Israel, in international courts and in the courts of other countries under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
'The double standards at play, however, have seen Israel's political and military leaders evade accountability,' he said. 'Such selective justice both undermines the international legal system and denies justice to Palestinian victims.'