Destroy Gaza legally

The legal theory of war allows Israel a free hand in Gaza. Civilians are safe from attack if they abide by the terms of surrender; otherwise, the attacker is only obliged to avoid the tactically unnecessary harm to civilians. If a territory has originally surrendered but later guerillas launched a full-scale offensive, the surrender no longer holds, the country is at war, and its civilians can be attacked as a matter of military necessity. In Vietnam, the entire population supported guerrilla war against the United States, and therefore the US Army could legally attack villages while taking nominal measures to minimize the civilian death toll. Vietnamese, accordingly, were herded to relocation camps, warned off the villages by leaflets dropped shortly before the attack, or most often not warned at all. The later situation was... [read full story]