Jus ad Bellum Proportionality: The Israel-Hamas War
The Problem
Following the heinous Hamas-led attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel launched a full-scale defensive war against Hamas in Gaza. The levels of damage that ensued raised an important and under-explored legal question: How far can a state go in pursuing its self-defense?
While there has been significant research and advocacy investigating reported war crimes in Gaza, there has been little analysis to date about how jus ad bellum principles (i.e., international laws governing whether and how states may have recourse to force) apply to Israel’s conduct. This analysis matters because, while war crimes involve judgments about particular strikes or operations, methodically assessing adherence to jus ad bellum principles requires looking at the war project in its entirety. This bigger picture view provides a different set of legal and policy prescriptions that, depending on the findings, could prescribe limits on the entire use of force and even, in severe cases, necessitate an end to the use of force.
Our Work
We have conducted a cutting-edge investigation assessing Israel’s compliance with jus ad bellum proportionality. In a forthcoming law review article written in collaboration with geospatial experts, we apply the jus ad bellum principle of proportionality using our proposed three-step analytical framework to legally assess overall harm that a belligerent causes in war. Then, leveraging novel satellite radar imagery data and analysis, we use this analytical framework to evaluate Israel’s compliance with jus ad bellum proportionality in its war in Gaza following October 7, 2023. We find that the damage Israel has caused in Gaza is excessive in comparison to its legitimate pursuit of self-defense, and that it has accordingly violated the principle of jus ad bellum proportionality.
Our Collaborators
Jamon Van Den Hoek and Corey Scher from the Conflict Ecology Lab at Oregon State University. Their damage mapping in Gaza has been featured in a number of news outlets, including (but not limited to) the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Scientific American, the BBC, and the Guardian.