standards of warfare

Today, militaries are supposed to be constrained by the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) or International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which exist in large part to protect civilians during times of war. IHL requires armed forces to act only to achieve legitimate military objectives, to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and to avoid causing disproportionate damage to civilians who may be near a legitimate military target.

Despite often being forced to engage in urban warfare against terrorist groups that hide behind civilians and fire rockets from densely populated areas, the IDF has met and often exceeded the highest standards of LOAC/IHL. When it suspects civilians are near a military target, the IDF warns them to evacuate with phone calls, text messages, leaflets, and other means. It also aborts many operations to avoid harming innocent people. Indeed, the IDF’s tactics often go beyond what is required by the Geneva Conventions.

In a 2015 report about the IDF, military leaders from other liberal democracies, “expressed strong concerns that the actions and practices of the IDF to prevent collateral damage were so extensive… that they would curtail the effectiveness of our own militaries, were they to become constraining norms of warfare enacted in… law."

The IDF has achieved an unmatched civilian-to-combatant ratio in modern urban warfare, estimated at 1:1 to 1:1.5 in Gaza. Facing Hamas’s human shields and tunnels, this beats historical norms—like the Iraq War’s 1:2 to 1:4—proving Israel’s commitment to minimizing civilian harm despite unprecedented challenges.