The Economist explains

Did an Israeli hospital raid breach the laws of war?

Disguising a soldier as a doctor can be an act of “perfidy”

Footage from a surveillance video showing Israeli forces disguised as civilians and medical workers hold weapons in a hallway at the Ibn Sina Hospital, West Bank, Jenin.
Photograph: AP

THE MAN in the wheelchair, pushed along by three companions, looks like any other patient in the Ibn Sina hospital in the West Bank. So does the woman in a headscarf apparently carrying a baby. Others, in scrubs, look like medical staff. But moments later they pull out rifles and kill three Palestinians. Within ten minutes they are gone. Israel says it eliminated three terrorists during the raid on January 30th and staved off a major attack which was imminent. But disguising combatants as medical personnel probably breaks international law, which prohibits “perfidy”. What is that crime?

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From the February 3rd 2024 edition

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