‘You can’t give Israel a blank cheque to keep killing innocents’ - Researcher

Clement Manyathela hosts a dialogue between Andre Thomashausen, Professor Emeritus of International Law at UNISA, and Tembisa Fakude, Senior Research Fellow and Director at Africa Asia Dialogues

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

The founder of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) says the Isreali strike that killed seven of the charity's humanitarian workers while they were delivering supplies in a ‘deconflicted zone’ in Gaza, was targeted. 

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World leaders, including US president Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, expressed outrage at the attack, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims was ‘unintended'.

More than 33,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, including about 200 aid workers, and at least 100 journalists and media workers.

On 7 October last year, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing about 1200 and taking hundreds hostage.

According to the Geneva Convention, targeting civilians is a war crime, while medical personnel and humanitarians must also be protected during conflict.

Thomashausen says Hamas taking hostages and firing into civilian territories also constitute war crimes, against which Israel has a right to defend itself proportionately.

Fakude adds however, that Israel's reaction is 'barbaric', and far surpasses the principal of proportionality.

“You cannot be watching what we are watching unfold in Gaza, and find a reason to justify it. Or find a reason to give a blank cheque to this barbaric regime of Israel to continue killing innocent people.” 

- Tembisa Fakude, Senior Research Fellow and Director at Africa Asia Dialogues

Killing hundreds of aid and media workers cannot be justified and is a clear violation of international law, Fakude adds.

“Israel has violated every single law and resolution passed by international bodies.”

- Tembisa Fakude, Senior Research Fellow and Director at Africa Asia Dialogues

Thomashausen disagrees, saying Israel isn't committing genocide, and that civilian deaths amount to accidents and misdirected force.

He says Israel uses AI to select targets, and blames the system for mistakenly selecting and destroying the WCK vehicles.

“It is known this system has a failure rate of around 10%... These are problems of modern war.” 

- Andre Thomashausen, Prof. Emeritus of International Law at UNISA

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.