Are war crimes being committed in the Middle East war?

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A war crime is a serious violation of international humanitarian law during times of conflict.

But "not all violations committed during war are legally considered war crimes," the Geneva-based NGO Trial International explains on its website, stressing that "to qualify, they must fulfil certain criteria of purpose and gravity".

War crimes are primarily defined by the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols, as well as by the 1998 Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the world's only permanent court for prosecuting war crimes – the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Article 8 of the Rome Statute sets out dozens of examples which could be considered a war crime.

They include wilful killing, torture, taking hostages and intentionally attacking civilians.

Also on the list are intentional "attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives".

Article 54 of the first additional protocol of the Geneva Conventions meanwhile emphasises that it is "prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population", including "crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works".

Situation in Middle East?

Civilian infrastructure, including power and desalination plants, have been repeatedly hit in the conflict that began when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

Trump ramped up his rhetoric towards Iran on Monday, vowing to carry out the "complete demolition" of Iran's critical infrastructure, particularly bridges and power plants if a deal was not reached by late Tuesday.

But hours before the deadline, Israel said it had already completed a broad wave of strikes targeting "infrastructure sites" across Iran.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump stated that "a whole civilisation will die tonight" if the country does not heed his call for a deal.

Without mentioning Trump by name, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk on Tuesday slammed the "incendiary rhetoric" expressed during the war as "sickening".

"Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime," Turk said, insisting that "anyone responsible for international crimes must be held to account by a competent court."

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, also stressed that "civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure, may not be attacked".

Even in cases where "specific civilian infrastructure were to qualify as a military objective, international humanitarian law would still prohibit attacks against them if they (were) expected to cause excessive incidental civilian harm," he warned.

Mirjana Spoljaric, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, denounced on Monday "deliberate threats, whether in rhetoric or in action, against essential civilian infrastructure".

Who prosecutes war crimes?

Trial International points out that "unlike other human rights violations, war crimes do not engage state responsibility but individual criminal responsibility".

Domestic courts are typically responsible for prosecuting war crimes. However, this can prove impossible during or in the aftermath of conflicts.

In such cases, one option can be universal jurisdiction, which allows countries to prosecute the most serious international crimes regardless of where they were committed.

International courts may also have jurisdiction, including the ICC.

Cases can be referred to the ICC by a country that has signed up to the Rome treaty or whose citizens have been the victims of crimes.

Cases may also be referred by the UN Security Council. A non-member state can also agree to accept the court's jurisdiction.

Neither the United States, Israel nor Iran are state parties to the Rome Statute.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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