Israel
Practice Relating to Rule 65. Perfidy
Section D. Simulation of surrender
Referring to Israel’s Law of War Booklet (1986), the Report on the Practice of Israel states that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) prohibit “the resort to perfidy to kill, injure or capture an adversary. Therefore, the IDF does not feign intent to surrender.”
Israel’s Manual on the Laws of War (1998) gives the following example of perfidy: “It is forbidden to use a white flag for an inappropriate purpose (posing as persons surrendering … with a view to gaining a military advantage).”
Israel’s Manual on the Rules of Warfare (2006) states:
[I]n order to ensure that a combatant party will indeed respect those who have surrendered and will not hurt them, a ban has been imposed on pretending to surrender, i.e., to wave a white flag as deception while continuing to fight.
The manual also states:
It is forbidden to make false use of the white flag (pretending to surrender or to be willing to negotiate while the true intention is to obtain a military advantage) so that soldiers from the other side will not fear allowing fighter[s] to live and grant them the status of prisoner-of-war.
The manual further states:
In order to protect the “sanctity” of defence under the rules of war, a combatant is forbidden (whether on the losing side or on the side accepting the surrender) to breach the conditions of surrender by resuming combat or by breaching the agreed rules of surrender.
In addition, the manual states: “Prohibited methods (such as simulated surrender) must not be used.”
The Manual on the Rules of Warfare (2006) is a second edition of the Manual on the Laws of War (1998).