Nuclear Weapons, Environmental Degradation, and Human Rights: A Case Study on the Israel-Hamas War

The escalating global and regional tensions have heightened the risk of nuclear warfare, posing an existential threat to humanity. The devastating legacy of wars includes intergenerational trauma, family displacement, and ecological destruction. The usage of nuclear weapons further exacerbates the devastating impacts of wars as these weapons have the potential to imperil not only the environment but also the regime of human rights. In the ongoing Israel- Hamas War calls for the usage of nuclear weapons have been given by a few political figures from Israel and The United States of America. The disastrous impacts of this war are already visible in the form of groundwater contamination, the release of excessive amounts of greenhouse gases, and the destruction of sewage treatment plants. Any form of usage of nuclear weapons in this region will cause long-term ecological destruction. It will unleash a catastrophe at an unprecedented level that will threaten the global community. At the international level, several treaties such as the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2023, Chemical Weapons Convention 1993, Hague Convention 1907, etc. prohibit the use of nuclear weapons and seek to promote disarmament mainly to contain the consequences of these weapons. In the year 2023 at the G7 Summit, the Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament aiming at the creation of a world without nuclear weapons was adopted. In the New Delhi Declaration that was adopted at the 2023, G20 Summit the usage of nuclear weapons was termed as inadmissible. The efforts that have been taken to eliminate the usage of nuclear weapons have also been highlighted. This paper tries to examine the environmental and human rights impacts of the usage of nuclear weapons during wars with a special focus on The Israel-Hamas War. The researchers have discussed the meaning of nuclear weapons, their types, the types of nuclear weapon states, and the existing legal regimen related to these weapons. The Additionally, how humans and the environment bear the brunt of these weapons has also been elucidated. The researchers have also put forward certain suggestions for mitigating the impacts of nuclear weapons on the environment as well as on human rights to create a peaceful and safer world.