The conflict between Palestine and Israel is rooted in long-standing territorial, historical, and religious disputes. Palestine strives for self-determination and authority over their territories, including the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, which they consider part of historical Palestine. At the same time, Israel asserts its right to exist and dominate these territories. The origins can be traced back to the early 20th century, exacerbating after the 1948 Arab-Israel war and the establishment of Israel resulting in the expulsion of Palestinians (Nakba). Tensions have intensified more since 2023, with increased Israeli military operations, settlement expansion, and Palestinian resistance, resulting in increased violence and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
The Israel-Palestine conflict bears prominent significance and substantially impacts the world because of the strong Western influence and pursuit of dominance over Palestine due to its geopolitical interests and support for Israel. while Iran, in turn, has many vested interests in strengthening its power in the region promoting ideological unity against perceived Western imperialism and undermining Israeli dominance. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has a great impact on civilians and non-militant safe zones. The conflict is now affecting the lives of children, women, and all other people. Moreover, it is also impacting institutes and public welfare. Therefore, it’s now a universal problem for its perpetually changing the dynamics of international relations, global perceptions and diplomacy.
Here, the point is, that Israel and Hamas have been contributing to the utter violations of international laws and regulations. Since the beginning of this new conflict, both sides violated the laws of various international treaties and this violation has increased public suffering, and hopelessness from international communities and shaped the perception of failures on their part. Furthermore, Israel has been contributing more towards violation due to its extremist approach toward Palestine, which is now a global concern for international law and order controlling organisations. Therefore, both sides ought to stop the conflict and violations of international laws. This is the only way to save humans and protect humanity, by strictly following the laws of international treaties.
Adding more to this, the statistics show that the conflict between Israel- and Palestine has been devastating, both sides have lost millions of human lives and damaged each other territories, which is a violation of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, and other laws of international treaties which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity of the self-determination of any state and not pose a threat to civilians during attack. Also, the indiscriminate nature of Hamas’s use of children in military activities violates the Convention on Child Rights (CRC) and its optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which protects children’s rights and requires the state to ensure protection in times of armed conflict. In addition to this Hamas is also involved in the abduction of civilians during attacks in breaches of Geneva Convention IV article (34) which forbids taking hostages and ensuring the humane treatment of all captured individuals.
On the other side, Israel launched a large-scale military campaign targeting Hamas in Gaza, leading to large-scale causalities with over 11,000 Palestinians killed including a large number of children and women. Israel destroyed 60% of residential buildings, 80% of commercial facilities, 17 of 36 hospitals, 65% of the road network, and 85% of school buildings violating Article 53 of the Geneva Convention IV which prohibits any destruction of public property, including civilian infrastructure and educational facilities. So far 4,327 students have lost their lives in Israeli action and 7,819 have sustained injuries, furthermore, 231 teachers have been killed, with 756 others injured. Approximately, 625,000 children are currently out of school, and at least 346 schools in Gaza Strips have been destroyed. This situation contravenes the Convention on the Rights to a Child (CRC) and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which has the rights to education, the right to life and the protection of civilian rights.
In addition, Israel’s inhumane treatment of civilians violates Article 7 of the ICCPR which emphasizes that no one should be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Moreover, the blockade on Gaza and restrictions on access to food and medical supplies constitute collective punishment further violating Article 33 of the Geneva Convention IV which does not allow collective punishment and ensures that no one shall be punished for what they have not committed punishment is prohibited. This blockade limits the movement of freedom of people in and out of Gaza which affects civilian populations and violates Article 12 of ICCPR which guarantees the freedom rights. A total number of 41,467 Palestinians were killed with approximately 95,921 injured, while 1,139 Israelis have been killed and 8,730 have sustained injuries
Israel and Palestine both were violating international laws resulting a worldwide destruction. If it persists, the world could operate without rules and regulations with no one adhering to any rule.
In my opinion, both Israel and Palestine should abandon extremist behaviour, and rely on a two-state solution, diplomatic engagement, trust among the leaders and peacebuilding measures. The role of the United Nations and International Court of Justice is very significant to ensure implementing bodies such as the Human Rights Council and various NGOs combat these violations and take strict actions against Israel and Palestine to effectively address humanitarian needs and uphold international law. Also, some non-profit Organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International etc must enforce international laws to protect civilians.
Major powers like the United States who are close allies to Israel should play their role against genocide. Iran, China, Russia and regional organizations can play critical roles by acting as mediators, promoting peace talks supporting humanitarian aid, and encouraging de-escalations through diplomatic engagements. finally, it is the responsibility of every student to raise their voice against civilian harm, advocate for the protection of human rights in Israel- Palestine conflicts and ensure adherence to International norms and regulations.
The Author, Usman Khan is a student of International Relations at Air University, Islamabad. Usman is an aspiring researcher with a strong passion for conflict management, peacebuilding, and understanding the politics of global affairs.
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