For decades, international humanitarian law has promised that grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions should not go unpunished. But what happens when an Israeli soldier who has committed war crimes enters India, a formal complaint is filed, authorities are notified, and he appears to leave the country anyway?

India is no stranger to Israeli soldiers travelling through the country. More than 73,000 Israelis visited India in 2014, and substantial numbers have continued to arrive every year since. Many are current or former Israeli occupation forces (IOF) soldiers travelling after completing mandatory military service. Israeli veterans receive state-backed financial benefits upon discharge, and post-army travel has become a well-established rite of passage.

Eitan Gilboa in Rafah, Gaza.

Against that backdrop, the Belgium-based rights group Hind Rajab Foundation’s (HRF) complaint against Israeli reservist Eitan Gilboa, who was vacationing in Old Manali and Gondla village in Himachal Pradesh, has attracted significant attention. The complaint included evidence against Gilboa’s involvement in the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza. It called on Indian authorities to investigate, arrest and act under India’s obligations pursuant to the Geneva Conventions.

Yet, HRF notes, Gilboa appears to have left India. So, the question now is no longer whether India was informed. It was. The question is why an Israeli soldier who has clearly committed war crimes was allowed to leave the country even after Indian authorities were formally put on notice.

Eitan Gilboa is a reservist in the Israeli military’s 271st Combat Engineering Battalion, a unit involved in military demolitions and battlefield engineering operations. He has not only been stationed in Gaza but also in Lebanon, another front on which Israel has unleashed large-scale destruction against civilian life.

He was born in Gaza. He lived in Moshav Morag, an Israeli settlement in the occupied Gaza Strip. Together with settlements such as Netzarim and Kfar Darom, it formed part of a network of settlements that enabled Israel to fragment Gaza and maintain control over movement and territory. In 2004, Gilboa and his family left Moshav Morag when Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza. Years later, after October 7, 2023, Gilboa returned to Gaza, this time as a soldier, accompanied by his siblings.

According to the complaint filed by HRF, Gilboa was involved in the demolition of civilian residential infrastructure in places including Khan Younis and Rafah. He did not merely participate in these acts, he documented and celebrated them. In one of the videos that he posted on his social media, Gilboa appears to fire from inside a building during Israel’s genocidal military campaign in Gaza. 

He sadistically staged photographs recreating scenes from his childhood, posing against the ruins of Palestinian playgrounds, children’s toys and destroyed neighbourhoods. The complaint references videos and photographs that show Gilboa documenting and celebrating these demolitions, as well as material publicly and proudly posted by Gilboa’s mother on social media.

Eitan Gilboa posts a picture from his childhood, alongside one in which he is posing against ruins of Palestinian playgrounds in Gaza years later.

The HRF complaint was drafted and filed by an India-based lawyer based on this evidence. Speaking to The Wire on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns, the lawyer said that these were sufficient grounds for Indian authorities to investigate Gilboa for war crimes.

She also said that the Bureau of Immigration had contacted HRF by email seeking contact details shortly after the complaint was filed. The information was shared, but no further updates followed from the bureau. 

According to the complaint, both conditions had been met: evidence existed and authorities were aware of the allegations. Yet Gilboa left the country without any scrutiny. This brings larger questions about what India’s obligations under international law actually mean in........

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