9
Israel Kills
Families Targeted by Israeli Terror in 2012
“the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked, prisoners
of war and civilians who find themselves in enemy
hands. They also protect medical duties, medical
personnel, medical units and facilities, and the
means of medical transport.”
The Fourth Geneva Convention is
considered the basic compact that governs the rights
of the civilian populations and their freedom in the
time of armed conflict or belligerent occupation, and
regulates the relationship between the occupying
power and the civilian populations; the philosophy
of international humanitarian law aims to “humanize
the war”1 as much as possible.
Since the Convention was set to protect
civilians and their rights, it took into account
controlling the occupier’s actions for the sake of
protecting the population rights, by establishing
as many legal rules and principles as possible, to
ensure that they have, in such circumstances, their
rights and freedom.
Given the fact that the Palestinian territories,
including the Gaza Strip, is part of the occupied
territories, the Geneva Convention is the legal
reference which governs the presence of occupation
forces and the rights and freedoms of the population.
Since 1967, the international community recognized
that Israel is a belligerent occupying power, and
the Fourth Geneva Convention is applied to the
occupied Palestinian territories; dozens of UN
Security Council and GeneralAssembly Resolutions
confirmed that. Most important are Resolution 2443
of 19December 1968, Resolution 592 of 8December
1
Putting limits on acts of barbarism between the forces in
combat.
