(Lieber Institute-West Point) Michael N. Schmitt - On May 15, 2021, the IDF destroyed the Al Jalaa Tower in Gaza, which housed the Associated Press and Al Jazeera offices. The IDF said Hamas "gathered intelligence for attacks against Israel, manufactured weapons and positioned equipment to hamper IDF operations" from the building. The IDF warned occupants by phone that an attack was planned and afforded them an hour to evacuate; as a result, there were no casualties. So long as the Israeli assertion that Hamas used the Al Jalaa Tower for military purposes is accurate, the building qualifies as a lawful military objective that may be attacked. The IDF Military Advocate General's Corps' international law specialists undoubtedly played a key role in the planning and approval of the operation, as they do in all IDF military operations. Based on information presently available, the strike complied with the law of armed conflict. The writer, a Distinguished Scholar at the U.S. Military Academy, is also Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the U.S. Naval War College.
2021-07-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive