The UK government has received advice that Israel is breaking international law in its assault on Gaza, so has an obligation to stop supplying it with arms.
The International Court of Justice stopped short of calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. New Zealand now needs to refine its foreign policy to play a constructive role in what happens next.
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Jehad Alshrafi/Anadolu via Getty Images
There is precedent showing the ICJ may grant provisional measures within a month or two of the hearing, preventing Israel from causing further harm in Gaza.
Display monitors show the result of voting at the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 12, 2023, in favour of a resolution calling on Israel to uphold legal and humanitarian obligations in its war with Hamas.
(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Mass forced movement of people has been used in conflicts to serve three goals: population control, territorial expansion and as a sorting mechanism. All three could be in play in Gaza.
The scene in the Bureij refugee camp following an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Nov. 14, 2023.
AP Photo/Adel Hana
The European bourgeoisie could not forgive Hitler because he applied in Europe colonialist procedures previously reserved for the supposedly inferior Arabs, Indians, and Africans.
When does bombing become disproportionate?
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An expert on the laws of war argues that the burden is now on Israel to show that the heavy death toll in Gaza is proportionate to the military advantage gained.
The politics of delivering aid in war zones are messy, the ethics fraught and the logistics daunting. But getting everything right is essential − and in this instance could save many Gazans’ lives.
Warring parties are duty-bound to minimize civilian casualties.
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This unleashing of violence, including the initial acts and the response to them, inevitably leads to war crimes.
Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps and Freedom of Russia Legion talk to the press after a cross-border raid into Russia, May 24 2023.
EPA-EFE/Sergey Kozlov
A decision to bulldoze the home belonging to the family of a man accused of killing seven people outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem has sparked questions over the legality of Israeli policy.
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It is a war crime to intentionally attack aid workers, but providing aid in a war zone where force is used indiscriminately and mercenaries operate with scant regard to rules is extremely risky.
Detained: Vjekoslav Prebeg (Croatia), Dylan Healy and John Harding (UK), Mathias Gustafsson (Sweden) and Andrew Hill from Britain, during a court hearing in Donetsk, August 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters/Alamy stock photo
Five British nationals were part of a prisoner swap with Russia recently. Here’s what international law tells us about the detention and treatment of people taken in time of conflict.
A Palestinian boy inspects his destroyed house after it was shelled by Israeli aircraft, Gaza, May 18, 2021.
Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Both sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict may be violating the international laws that govern armed conflict. A legal scholar explains these rules – and whether anyone enforces them.
Ethiopian refugees fleeing fighting in Tigray province queue to receive supplies at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref province.
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The standoff between Abiy Ahmed and the armed forces in Tigray has already caused thousands to flee their homes.
More than 32,000 civilians have been killed in the Afghanistan war between 2009 and 2018 - most of them by anti-government forces.
AAP/GHULAMULLAH HABIBI
An official inquiry is underway to examine if New Zealand troops committed war crimes in Afghanistan during an event known as Operation Burnham, when six civilians were killed.
Lecturer on Law and Associate Director of Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection, International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School, Harvard University