• thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      There is a whole lot of terrible shit going on in Gaza, and Israel is committing war crimes all over the place.

      However, chasing down and shooting a fleeing enemy combatant is not a war crime. If a russian soldier tries to flee from a failed assault, Ukrainian troops are free to shoot them in the back. The same applies to troops fleeing a position that is being attacked or encircled. They can be hunted down and shot unless they surrender.

      I’m pointing it out because it’s a common misconception the enemies that are unarmed, wounded or fleeing are “out of bounds”, but that’s not the case. It’s perfectly legal to bomb an enemy camp full of sleeping soldiers, or shoot an unarmed or wounded enemy that hasn’t surrendered.

      The absolutely horrifying thing with Israel is that they treat starving civilians as if they were soldiers, and shoot unarmed civilian kids in the back.

      • Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        15 days ago

        That is a good shout, withdrawal =/= surrender. You’re not wrong to clarify rules of war, as false accusations lead to propaganda reinforcing against the real accusations.

        Though my statement does stand - “they design drone technology for war criminals to pursue fleeing targets” is a factual statement.

        Plus, we will almost certainly see a new version of the Geneva convention in response to drone warfare in our lifetime.