- 'Israeli military operations in Gaza contradict and contravene international law and United Nations charters in self-defense,' Shawan Jabareen tells Anadolu

- When a state is attacked by another and its existence is threatened, it first informs UN and then uses force to defend itself, says expert

- Jabareen rejects US and EU's support for this narrative and describes Israeli military actions in Gaza as 'war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide'

- What Israel is targeting in Gaza is not military targets, but civilian housing, civil service institutions, and hospitals, all of which are considered a 'war crime,' Raed Abu Badawiya tells Anadolu

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The "right to self-defense" does not apply to Israel in its war on the Gaza Strip, legal experts say, rejecting the US and EU's support for this narrative and describing Israeli military actions in Gaza as "war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide."

Shawan Jabareen, the director of the rights organization Al-Haq Foundation, told Anadolu that “Israeli military operations in Gaza contradict and contravene international law and United Nations charters in self-defense.”

"The right to self-defense applies to a state when it is attacked by another and its national security and existence are exposed to danger. At that time, this state informs the United Nations first and then uses force to defend itself. This does not apply to the current situation here (Gaza)," Jabareen explained.

He stressed that Palestine and Hamas are not a state. It is occupied territory, and Israel controls Gaza and the West Bank.

Previously in 2004, an advisory opinion was discussed in Tel Aviv regarding Israel's construction of the separation wall in the West Bank under the pretext of self-defense, and the International Court of Justice concluded that "it is not right for Israel to argue that it has the right to legitimate self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter."

Israel usually denies committing crimes in Gaza and claims that it is defending itself, and it continued the same narrative after Hamas launched the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack on Oct. 7 “in response to the daily Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

For the last 37 days, the Israeli army has been waging a war on Gaza, during which it destroyed residential neighborhoods on top of their residents, killing more than 11,100 Palestinians, including 8,000 women and children, and injuring more than 26,000 others.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed at least 163 Palestinians and arrested 2,600 others. The Israeli death toll is nearly 1,200, according to official figures.

On Nov. 3, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Israel not only extended his support to “Israel’s right to self-defense,” but also said, “It is obligated to do so, and we strongly support it.”

In a press statement, Blinken stressed “the necessity of enabling the Israeli army to defeat Hamas in Gaza.”

The EU leaders also declared on Oct. 15, “Their support for Israel’s right to defend itself, in line with humanitarian and international law.”

However, Jabareen said Tel Aviv, Washington, and European Union statements about Israel's right to defend itself are "contrary to international law, and are not legal statements, but political statements that are biased toward Israel."

“If Israel does not practice genocide,” Jabareen says, “then it is going to genocide, and therefore its operations contain all the elements of genocide in light of the statements of the highest echelons in Israel from politicians and military personnel, which confirm their intention to kill part or all of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

He added, "Practice on the battlefield translates these trends into killing and destroying civilians without any military necessity, which brings us to the point of genocide in the Gaza Strip."

No justification for committing crimes

Raed Abu Badawiya, professor of law and international relations at the Arab American University in the city of Jenin, West Bank, said: “The right to self-defense is guaranteed, and if we accept for the sake of argument that Israel has this right, it does not justify committing crimes.”

Abu Badawiya told Anadolu that “In the event of self-defense, you may not violate the rules of international law, nor may you target civilians, and any crime is not permitted under the justification of self-defense.

"What Israel is targeting in Gaza are not military targets. It is clear from what we see and what we monitor that the nature of the targets is civilian housing, civil service institutions, and hospitals, and all of the above is considered a war crime."

Stressing the existence of "a crime of genocide and a crime against humanity," Abu Badawiya pointed out "what Israel is carrying out today is targeting civilians, deporting them, starving them, and preventing basic needs."

Since the outbreak of the war, Israel has cut off supplies of water, food, medicine, electricity, and fuel to approximately 2.3 million residents of Gaza, who are already living in deplorable conditions owing to an ongoing Israeli siege since 2006.

Abu Badawiya cited the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which defines these actions as "war crimes."

He said, "Self-defense is guaranteed, but within controls and is not an absolute right, and what Israel is implementing in most cases violates the law and is international crimes."​

* Writing by Ziad Aslan in Ankara