The Right to Food in Gaza: Israel's Obligations under International Law
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RUTGERS LAW RECORD
The Internet Journal of Rutgers School ofLaw Newark
www.lawrecord.com
Volume 35 Legal Implications of Operation Cast Lead Spring 2009
The Right to Food in Gaza: Israel's Obligations Under International Law
By Randle C. DeFalco*
I. Introduction
On December 27, 2008 Israel launched a series of airstrikes against targets in the Gaza strip,'
marking the beginning of Operation Cast Lead (OCL),2 a 22-day military campaign against Hamas.'
Israel officially launched OCL in defense of its citizens, who have been and continue to be
deliberately attacked by the Hamas terrorist organization.4 Although Israel pledged' to abide by the
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) requirements of distinction' and proportionality,7 OCL
* B.A., New Jersey Institute of Technology; J.D., Rutgers School of Law - Newark (expected 2009). The author
wishes to extend a special thanks to Professor Adil Haque for supervising the independent research that led to this
paper and Professor Emeritus Saul Mendlovitz for his ongoing support. Additionally the author would like to thank
the Rutgers Law Record staff for their support and editing prowess. Any errors or omissions are the author's alone.
Lastly, the author is immensely grateful to his family for their love, inspiration, and support.
1 See Paddy Allen, The Israeli Attacks on Gaza, THE GUARDIAN, Jan. 19, 2009,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/jan/03/israelandthepalestinians.
2 Operation Cast Lead is the name adopted for the offensive by the Israeli Government. See Israeli Defense Forces,
Senior Military Officials Brief the International Press on Operation Cast Lead, Jan. 19, 2009,
http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/theFront/08/oper/default.htm.
3 For the purposes of this paper, Hamas is meant to encompass both the official organization and other anti-Israeli
militant groups operating in the Gaza strip.
4 ISRAEL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, RESPONDING TO HAMAS ATTACKS FROM GAZA - ISSUES OF
PROPORTIONALITY, Background Paper 1 (Dec. 2008), http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/A1D75D9F-ED9E-4203-
A024-AF8398997029/0/Respondingto HamasAttacksfromGaza december 2008.pdf [hereinafter IMFA
Background Paper].
5 See id.
6 Distinction requires that parties to a conflict take steps to distinguish between military and civilian targets and
forbids targeting of the latter. See Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating
to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) art. 13(2), June 8, 1977, 1125 U.N.T.S. 3,
16 I.L.M. 1391 [hereinafter Protocol I] (The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/rutglr35&div=3&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Right to Food in Gaza: Israel's Obligations under International Law
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