Pnina Sharvit-Baruch

Col. Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, head of the International Law Department, Military Advocate General's Office, Israel criminal "Defence" Forces. Sharvit-Baruch legitimized the war crimes operation "Cast Lead" in Gaza. She justified the killing of Palestinian civilians including hundreds of children.

Under Sharvit-Baruch's command, IDF legal experts legitimized strikes and the collective murders in Gaza, she said to the IDF war criminals during the operation "Cast Lead" in Gaza go-ahead. Sharvit-Baruch and her division believed that the killing of Palestinian civilians in a house whose residents the IDF has warned might be considered legally justified, although the IDF does not actually target civilians in this way. According to a senior official in the international law division, "Our goal is not to tie down the army, but to give it the tools to win in a way that is legal."

Col. Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, reviewed the international law pertaining to urban warfare. She argued several times, that from a strictly legal point of view Israel was entitled to use artillery against targets in Palestinian urban areas. "If they are launching rockets against us from built-up areas, or building bombs in the basements of apartment buildings, we are within our rights to shell these areas in response," said Sharvit during a Conference on Urban Warfare in the Territories.