I've been reading articles on the Hoover Institute website and I found this part really interesting.
Applying the rules of war developed for combat between Western militaries becomes even more problematic given the nature of Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization that refuses to obey the rules of war, as it did by attacking a large music festival and undefended villages on Oct. 7. Its fighters neither wear visible uniforms nor operate in open, clear military formations, but instead seek to blend into the general population, as Hamas hides its personnel and assets among civilians.
Indeed, Hamas succeeds precisely by violating the laws of war and blurring the line between combatants and non-combatants, both on its own part and that of its victims. Extending unwarranted legal protections to Hamas only multiplies its incentive to continue disregarding the principles of humanity on the battlefield.
But Hamas’ activities are even more pernicious. Not only does it target the innocent and use civilians as shields to limit its own losses, but it deliberately invites attacks on its own population as a means of political and legal warfare. Widely transmitted images of civilian deaths generate sympathy for Hamas within the Arab world, and raise the political pressure on Israel from the United States, which provides Israel crucial military supplies, intelligence support, and financial backing. Hamas’s strategy became clear when it sought to prevent Gazans from complying with the Israeli warnings to evacuate the northern strip. For Hamas, the more Gazan civilians killed by Israeli strikes, the better. The laws of war do not easily apply to an enemy that seeks victory by deliberately increasing its own civilian casualties.
The ultimate issue is not a technical question of treaty law or customary law. If the law of armed conflict makes it impossible for a modern Western army to defeat terrorist warlords hiding behind civilians, that version of LOAC is a threat to civilization itself.
I also discovered that Hamas has signed up to the Geneva Convention which I didn't previously know, nor suspect, as their actions towards civilians both Israeli and Palestinian breaches so many of the conditions laid out in it
I'm wondering if and how the Geneva Convention and IHL will change in the aftermath of this war now that conflict, particularly in the Middle East, has changed from traditional Western warfare with uniformed soldiers and trenches to militants in civilian dress hiding amongst civilian populations in urban settings
It's not just something Israel has had to confront, but the Allies armies in Iraq and Afghanistan aswell
As warfare evolves so will the existing legal framework need to
For anyone interested in military history it's interesting times