Unanswered questions

Imdad Ullah, assistant professor at the Centre for International Peace and Stability at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan, told China Daily that indeed Israel "was under attack on Oct 7, 2023. Yet, there remain several unanswered questions about the proportionality of the Israeli armed response. In many instances, the armed response seems to be crossing the thin line between legality and illegality when responding to an armed attack".

Ahmad Ghouri, a senior lecturer of the School of Law, Politics and Sociology at the University of Sussex in England and managing editor of Revival Press, said Israel's right to self-defense "is not unlimited" and must comply with the principles of necessity and proportionality.

"Countries supporting Israel's actions under the guise of self-defense must ensure their support does not contribute to violations of international law," he added.

In November, the International Criminal Court, or ICC, issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, together with a former Hamas commander, over alleged "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity". Israel told the ICC it would appeal against the arrest warrants and urged the ICC to suspend the warrants, pending the appeal.

Israeli fighters and bombs have been targeting schools, hospitals and refugee camps from Gaza to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and even Iran, indicating Israel's military operations are no longer just about eliminating Hamas.

Tel Aviv, Washington and its allies have long designated Hamas as a "terrorist group". In 2019, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had said at the 74th UN General Assembly that the creation of Israel by seizing Palestinian land and expelling its 90 percent Arab population was the root cause of terrorism.

This year, foreign leaders like Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Polish politician Grzegorz Braun had referred to Israel as a "terrorist state" amid widespread killings and destruction. The killing of many people and injuring of thousands in Lebanon through explosions of pagers used for communication are among those deemed as "terrorist acts" committed by Israel, according to analysts.

Ghouri of the University of Sussex said the conflict in Gaza and its expansion to other regions such as Lebanon, Iran and Syria underscore the need for a comprehensive and just resolution that adheres to international law and respects the rights of all parties involved.

Israeli assassination of former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran, as acknowledged by Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz, the prolonged occupation of Syrian lands, bombings of Iranian facilities in Syria, and the deliberate killings of UN humanitarian workers, journalists and medical staff, can all lead to crime charges.

With women and children being the dominant casualties in Gaza's deadly statistics, Israel has also been accused of "ethnic cleansing" for its "genocidal attacks", war crimes, and even weaponization of aid.

Fatma Jamal Muhaisen, a nutritionist at the Al Helou International Hospital in Gaza City, has been witness to these atrocities. Every morning, her first view out of her window is of Palestinians, including children, crowding a truck, taking turns to fill their plastic containers with water amid limited supplies.

"I see women carrying two of these (containers of water) at once and (one who looked like) a 7-year-old carrying one (container) for a long distance," said Muhaisen.