Law
What does a disproportionate attack mean?
EXPLAINED FROM SOURCES
The short answer
It does not simply mean that one side killed more people than the other. International humanitarian law recognises that civilians can be harmed during war, but it places strict limits on attacks. Before attacking a military target, an army must consider the expected civilian harm compared with the concrete and direct military advantage expected from the attack.
The fuller explanation
It does not simply mean that one side killed more people than the other.
International humanitarian law recognises that civilians can be harmed during war, but it places strict limits on attacks.
Before attacking a military target, an army must consider the expected civilian harm compared with the concrete and direct military advantage expected from the attack.
Imagine an enemy fighter is inside a building containing 100 civilians. Destroying the entire building just to kill that one fighter could be unlawful if the expected civilian harm would be excessive compared with the military advantage. That is called disproportionality.
This is important in Gaza because Hamas operating among civilians does not remove Israel’s legal obligations towards those civilians.
The same rules apply to Palestinian armed groups: civilians cannot lawfully be deliberately targeted.