ISRAELI SUPREME COURT ON IDF DUTIES TOWARD CIVILIANS

From Reuters:

Israel's top court has told the army to safeguard "the lives and dignity" of Palestinian civilians in combat operations, a ruling welcomed on Monday by human-rights groups alarmed by the bloodiest Gaza raid in years.

Answering a petition by four rights groups over the army's sweep into the Rafah refugee camp, the Supreme Court said the military bore prime responsibility for civilians in areas it controlled and laid down specific humanitarian guidelines.

"When civilians enter a zone of combat...everything must be done in order to protect the dignity of the local civilian population," the court said in its ruling, issued on Sunday.

The court said the army was responsible for ensuring provision of food, water and medical supplies to the local population during such incursions and must take "all measures required" to ensure civilians' safety.

Such duties extended to the dead, the court said. It ordered the army to ensure a "dignified burial" for Palestinians killed -- an obligation it said the army had not met in Rafah.

The case is Physicians for Human Rights v. Commander of the IDF Forces in the Gaza Strip, HCJ 4764/04 (html here, PDF here).The following paragraph from S.C. President Barak's opinion (para. 68) sums up the Court's conclusions:

In the framework of our discussion regarding the internalization of humanitarian laws, we emphasize that it is the duty of the military commander not only to prevent the army from harming the lives and dignity of the local residents (the “negative” duty: see supra para. 11). He also has a “positive” duty (para. 11). He must protect the lives and dignity of the local residents. For example, regarding the burial of local residents, the military commander was satisfied that the corpses were transferred to A-Najar Hospital. But this was not enough. He is obligated to do his utmost to ensure that the bodies be brought to a dignified burial according to local custom. He must make prior arrangements in order to ensure there are sufficient supplies of food and water. Damage to the water supply is something that can be anticipated from the outset, and if it cannot be avoided, a solution to this problem must be prearranged. Supplies of medicines, medical equipment and food should also be prepared in advance. Harm to local residents is expected and if, despite every effort to limit this, in the end there will be casualties among residents, this must be prepared for from the outset. Respondent should not rely solely on international and Israeli aid organizations to solve these problems, though their aid is important. The recognition that the basic duty belongs to the military commander must be internalized, and it is his job to adopt different measures from the outset so that he can fulfill his duty on the battlefield.