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| Image showing location of C4i intelligence unit other military points relative to the hospital |
Iran, in response to Israeli aggression against it, launched a series of missile attacks. We should be clear that in this case the aggressor is the Zionist state and the Iranian response is a justified defence of its sovereignty in response to an act of war. There can be no doubt about it.
But one of its missiles supposedly hit a hospital in Beer Sheva and Israel didn’t waste time in denouncing the attack on the hospital. Without blushing they said that attacks on hospitals are a war crime banned under International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Their hypocrisy is plain to see, given that there is not a hospital left standing in Gaza thanks to the Nazis in Tel Aviv. But what does IHL say about hospitals?
Article 18 of The Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states:
Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.[1]
In view of the dangers to which hospitals may be exposed by being close to military objectives, it is recommended that such hospitals be situated as far as possible from such objectives.[2]
This means Israel should not place military targets near hospitals. And beside the hospital in Beer Sheva there are various military depots. One of them is the HQ of C4i, the intelligence agency that controls the computer systems of the Zionist armed forces and communications in the battle field, i.e. a key part of the war against Iran.[3] There is also the technological park Gav-Yam Negev which functions as C4i’s centre of technological development and the area is the epicentre of Israeli military industries.[4] A legitimate target in a war. In fact, Iran justified the attack for that very reason.[5] Even in such situations the attacking force is obliged to ensure that it doesn’t damage civilian or protected installations under IHL, but there is a shared responsibility with those who violated IHL by placing military targets in the vicinity of a hospital. And it is clear that the hospital was there first and then came the military installations. Israel uses them as human shields, something expressly prohibited by the Geneva Convention (IV). Article 28 bans it.
The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.[6]
Hospitals only lose their protected character under IHL if they are used as military installations. This does not mean that there are many soldiers in the hospital receiving medical attention, nor even if there are many soldiers present protecting them. Article 19 of the Convention is clear about when a hospital becomes a military target.
The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy.[7]
It would seem that there was no base under the hospital just key installations for the war in the vicinity of the Soroka Hospital.
Up till now the only power in the region that has violated IHL by deliberately attacking hospitals protected under the Geneva Convention is Israel with its attacks in Gaza that have destroyed all of the medical capacity in the zone. Israel’s hysterical denunciation is more a confession than an accusation.
References
[1] See.
[2] Ibíd.
[3] See
[4] Jerusalem Post (30/03/2025) The IDF Is moving South – and Beersheba prepares with a variety of housing options.
[1] See.
[2] Ibíd.
[3] See
[4] Jerusalem Post (30/03/2025) The IDF Is moving South – and Beersheba prepares with a variety of housing options.
[5] Tehran Times (19/06/2025) Tehran says Israeli army intelligence hub was main target of missile strike.
[6] See.
⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.
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