Last May, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip following weeks of increased violence towards Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The violence by Israeli police was towards Palestinians who were demonstrating the decision to forcibly evict 28 Palestinian families from their homes in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, and give their homes to Israeli settlers after a decade-long legal battle. 

The Israeli Forces also escalated violence in the West Bank and Occupied Palestine during the holy month of Ramadan. It arbitrarily increased restrictions on Palestinians to access the Old City and attacked worshipers at the Al Aqsa mosque compound by using rubber tipped bullets, grenades and brute physical violence.

Following the weeks of increased tensions, the Israeli forces launched attacks on the Gaza-Strip for 11 continuous days last May (10 May – 21 May), resulting in 256 Palestinian deaths and over 2,000 injuries to the civilian population.

This has affected the already dire living conditions in the Gaza Strip, including its already fragile healthcare system.3 According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the latest Israeli military attacks on the Gaza-Strip are an ‘inescapable hell’.

This brief will explore (i) how the Israeli forces purposely target the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip (amongst other infrastructure targets), and (ii) how Israel might, therefore, be guilty of war crimes pursuant to International Humanitarian Law.