Abstract

Israel’s 22-day attack on Gaza in December 2008—January 2009 exposed a paradox: the attack was not only one of the most violent and destructive of Israel’s recent wars on the Palestinians and the one most strongly opposed by its critics, but also the one in which Israeli experts in international humanitarian law (IHL) — the area of the law that regulates the conduct of war — were most closely involved. The article demonstrates how these facts are connected.