The current conflict in the Middle East is the most violent in decades. An Inside Geneva special asks what the rules of law allow, and what they forbid.\xa0
Marco Sass\xf2li, Professor of International Law at the University of Geneva, says: \u201cthe massacre Hamas committed among those festival visitors are clear violations of international humanitarian law. [...] The entire northern Gaza Strip is not a military objective. So, an attack is a specific act of violence against one target, and the entire northern Gaza Strip is not possibly a target.\u201d
What are the challenges for aid workers?\xa0
\u201cWe need to ensure safety of civilians and safety of health workers, humanitarian workers on the ground. Our colleagues from the Palestine Red Crescent were telling us, yes we have no food, yes we have no water, yes we have none of these. But we don\u2019t even know if we\u2019ll be alive tomorrow,\u201d says Benoit Carpentier from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.\xa0
Can anything prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza?\xa0
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard about 20 or 30 trucks only being allowed in, which obviously for a population of 2 million people is a drop in the ocean,\u201d says Carpentier. \xa0
Do we expect too much of humanitarian law?\xa0
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t misunderstand humanitarian law, for instance humanitarian law does not prohibit Hamas to attack Israel, and does not prohibit Israel to attack Hamas fighters, military objectives and so on in the Gaza Strip, and other cities. And humanitarian law was never meant as saying wars are wonderful. No, wars are terrible, but they are much less terrible if the parties make an effort to comply with humanitarian law,\u201d concludes Sass\xf2li. \xa0
Join host Imogen Foulkes on the Inside Geneva podcast.\xa0
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