Israel’s declaration that it will halt all shipments of aid into Gaza has fluttered the dovecotes in all the predictable places — the UN, the governments of Qatar and Egypt (abandoning the pretense of being “neutral” mediators), the Arab League, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the BBC, and so on and so bloody forth. This halt in aid is being described as part of a “siege,” and the word itself puts us in mind of the sieges of cities during the Middle Ages , with machicolated fortresses, moats and drawbridges, catapults and trebuchets.
But sieges are not against international law, provided they meet certain conditions, as Daniel Pomerantz makes clear here: “Israel Cut Off Aid to Gaza After Hamas Rejected Ceasefire Deal — And That’s Completely Legal,” by Daniel Pomerantz, Algemeiner, March 4, 2025:
In what may be perhaps the most significant single strategic move since the start of the war in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced this weekend that, “the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be halted.”
Contrary to claims of “war crimes” and “starving civilians,” this new approach to Gaza is not only completely consistent with international law — but is likely to save civilian lives on all sides and bring the war to a close far more quickly than any other approach.
The massacre of October 7, 2023, saw the largest murder of Jews since the Holocaust. The internationally-designated Hamas terror organization, along with Palestinian civilians and UN staff, invaded Israel, killed over 1,200, took 251 hostage, committed mass torture and mass rape, and brought about 16 months of war.
As I wrote the other day, Israel and Hamas completed “Phase 1” of a three stage ceasefire agreement, which resulted in the release of some of the Israeli hostages. However, the parties have so far failed to negotiate the terms of “Phase 2.” US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, presented a framework for continuing negotiations, which Israel accepted but Hamas rejected.
In response, Israel made this weekend’s announcement, and closed Gaza to aid deliveries.
Israel maintains a legal weapons blockade on Gaza, which is governed by the Geneva Conventions, The Hague Conventions, and the San Remo Convention. Under these agreements, a legal blockade is permitted as a defense against armed attack. Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which began in 2007, fits this requirement, as it is a response to Hamas’s ongoing rocket barrages on Israeli civilians.
Under these same international rules, the blockading party may not intentionally starve civilians as a tool of warfare. This effectively means that the blockading power is required to transfer humanitarian aid into the blockaded area — a requirement that Israel has fulfilled at a massive scale….
The blockading party, however, can halt the transfer even of humanitarian aid under certain conditions. If the aid is not being received by civilians, but is mostly diverted to the enemy combatants, then it can be blocked. See the discussion here of Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention:
In effect, Israel has been fighting a war of survival while also funding both sides: a strategy doomed to fail. This kind of national suicide is absolutely not required by international law.
To the contrary, Article 23 of Geneva Convention IV specifically states that a power is not required to allow the passage of humanitarian aid unless it is satisfied that the aid will not be diverted to enemy combatants. Therefore, not only is Israel not required to transfer aid under the present circumstances, but pressuring Israel to do so is, in itself, a war crime.
International law is structured this way for good reason: funding both sides of a conflict only serves to prolong hostilities and thus increase completely avoidable harm to civilian populations on all sides….
Israel has a right to blockade all aid to Gaza, even humanitarian aid, if it has good reason to believe that such aid will be diverted by Hamas, its enemy and a designated terrorist group, to support its own war-making. Such aid can help Hamas build its network of tunnels, feed and clothe its troops, raise money — through the resale of the aid that Hamas steals — to sustain its war effort. This is why Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention was written: to make clear that a combatant state — in this case, Israel — is not required to allow the passage of humanitarian aid unless it is satisfied that the aid will not be diverted to enemy combatants. Therefore, Israel is not required to transfer aid under the present circumstances.
Troybeam says
Israel, one of the most generous nations. They have given enough to Gaza over the years and guess what the thankless Gazan’s have attacked and killed Israeli’s.
Other nations especially Muslim nations can feed them as they really are not starving according to new and recent pictures.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Now is Ramadan. They’re supposed to fast anyway, so the halting of food supplies shouldn’t upset those jihadists one bit!
Stephen says
I think Ramadan is only important if they’re squarking about it for some reason, all those fat Arabs will be snacking on the side.
The western world is doing them a favour by not tempting them with food ..
A good dose of fasting looks like it will help everyone
Trump is the only one with the right plan, boot all the arabs back to where they came from, bulldose Gaza and build a paradise on the edge of the Med,,,, (smart thinking)
࿗Infidel࿘ says
All those anti-Israelis obsessed about which “international laws” are followed during wartime can turn their attention to Ukraine and the Russo-Ukraine war. Until they criticize them, and even after, they have no business saying a thing to Jerusalem
somehistory says
If they can legally be withheld due to the civilians not receiving them, then this entire time they could have been withheld. Because, as even the Gazan mozlums complain, hamas has kept the supplies for themselves….and even some members of hamas complained about the upper ghouls hogging and withholding the aid.
Perhaps if no aid had been delivered at any time this war would have ended, could have ended, months ago.
Pray Hard says
Is slaughtering 1,200 Israelis allowed under international law?
Gene says
And if it is against international law?
Cynthia says
Leave it to the OBiden administration to force Israel to feed the enemy and therefore prolong the war. Every international decision has weakened an ally and emboldened an enemy. (Afghanistan, Iran, Hamas…)
However, given the state of the Democrats, they are probably knowingly working towards anti Israel and anti American forces.
libertyORdeath says
Can anyone name another war where the victim of an attack was expected to provide aid to the enemy?
If it is against international law, then everyone is guilty. Yet Israel is treated differently. As per usual.
somehistory says
I’m sure the U.S. was obligated to give aid to Japan; and France, U.K., Poland, etc. all had to feed hitler’s troops.
somehistory says
And hamas holding hostages, while expecting to get food, medicine, etc.
the hostage negotiating teams in the U.S. don’t even provide a cup of coffee to criminals holding hostages. They may promise a cup, but it never arrives.
As you write, Israel is held to a different standard.
abu taleb says
Ukraine must have given humanitarian aid to Russia, no wonder most of Europe countries are fully supporting Ukraine. (sarcasm)
jule says
When is anyone going to say something about the monsterus, sadistic WarCrimes Hamas has done and is still doing?!
Seriusly!
Close down the UN too.
Brian E J Bridgman says
Fortunately Israel is doing what needs to be done. The Arabs (that choose to call themselves (Palestinians) have by their own actions, put themselves into the positions where they are. Simple logic!
OLD GUY says
Funny how the aggressor islam now cries foul when Israel hits back. Even funnier is the western organization that stand to defend Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Sorry the poor people of Gaza as the media puts it were and are part of HAMAS. They support the leaders and the terrorist attacks against Israel. They need to suffer the consequences of their actions.
somehistory says
The first…hopefully the first of thousands….visa has been pulled and a *student* supporter of hamas here in the U.S. is to be deported.
There is a photo taken at Harvard on Oct 14, ’23….seven days after the slaughter in Israel…showing hamas supporters with their flags, signs, masks and terror scarves. A *week* after the slaughter, the “students” are protesting.
I will never believe that those “students” and the ones at other colleges didn’t have a heads-up before the attack.
dumbledoresarmy says
I am sure that they did.
And I have my suspicions, too, re. the World Council of Churches (a heavily infiltrated body). Because here is a “World Day of Prayer” that is held on 7th March every year, I think under the auspices of that organisation. Each year it focuses on a different nation, and the church in that nation prepares the liturgy for the occasion.
And – WHAT a coincidence! – the focal ‘nation’ (sic) for 7th March 2024 was ‘Palestine’ (??? !!! which is NOT a ‘nation’ in any real sense of the word, being merely a local/ regional subset of the amorphous empire of the Arabs). I chose not to attend, because I had a look beforehand at the ‘backgrounder’ provided for participants, and it was purest ‘Palestinianism’ from start to finish; it even included a laughably sketchy so-called ‘timeline’ that managed somehow to completely erase Jews, Judaism, and the historic nations of Israel and Judah from the entire history of the region, ancient as well as modern. Israel/ Jews only appeared in that account as eeeevil villains appearing as if from nowhere in particular, to oppress, dispossess, persecute and kill the poor little gambolling innocent snow-white ‘Palestinian’ lambikins, just for fun. It was the most blatant propaganda screed I’ve had the displeasure of reading; chockful of nonsense-and-lies, including the proven-baseless claim that there was a massacre at Jenin. And all this saccharine-coated garbage was fed to thousands and thousands of ‘progressive’ western and non-western Christians, less than six months after an appallingly violent jihad massacre – a torture-rape-murder spree – carried out by local Arab Muslims against Jewish villagers and partygoers in southern Israel.
I’d love to know precisely when it was proposed, to the organisers of that event (but presumably sometime just after the previous event on March 7 2023) that the nonexistent KGB-propaganda-and-Muslim-taqiyya-invented ‘nation’ of ‘Palestine’ MUST be the focus of the Day of Prayer early in 2024. Because it just seems too conveniently timed.
somehistory says
Thanks, dda, for sharing that information. So much evil, so much corruption, and collusion to spread the evil.
OLD GUY says
Seems strange that Israel is pointed out to be breaking international law and Hamas is given a free pass and foreign aid.