The Laws of Armed Conflict are not an "Apologist Loophole", they are
literally what you are accusing Israel of violating. It is no one's fault but your own (or, I suppose, whoever is feeding you information) that you didn't know what they actually said.
"Hey, I caught you speeding - you were going 65 mph"
"But the speed limit here is 70 mph"
"Aha! So
that's your loophole, then!"
No. When Israel commits a war crime, Israel is to blame. The problem you need to face is that, when HAMAS commits a war crime (such as, for example, militarizing civilian positions and perfidy) that results in civilian suffering and death, HAMAS is to blame.
The Laws of Armed Conflict correctly consider the force that militarizes a civilian position responsible for securing civilian personnel and cultural heritage in that position and any damage to the same that results. The Laws of Armed Conflict correctly consider the force that commits perfidy responsible for the resulting stripping of protections from the civilians they mimic.
There are a number of good reasons for that, not least (though not the greatest) of which is, if you reward a tactic such as perfidy with success, you get more of it. If you reward using civilian shields, more people will use them. If you reward perfidy, you will get more perfidy.
In Iraq, AQI sent kids to throw grenades at us, because they knew Americans liked kids, and figured kids would be more successful - which they were, at first.
However, the survival instinct is pretty solid, and, if you lose a couple people to kids throwing grenades, you eventually shoot the kids running at you with grenades.
So, AQI armed the next batch of kids with rocks (you can't tell the difference when someone is running at you) so they could video "Evil American Soldiers Brutally Mowing Down Kids Just For Throwing Rocks".
...It messes you up, tbh. We have a very different understanding of the value and innocence of children than these kinds of groups.
The reason why the Laws of Armed Conflict so strongly condemn perfidy like that is because it strips protection from the groups who are being mimicked. You aren't supposed to use ambulances to move soldiers and weapons because that forces the opposition to start shooting ambulances. You aren't supposed to hide as civilians because that forces the opposition to start shooting civilians. You aren't supposed to fake surrenders in order to initiate an ambush because that forces them to start shooting people who are indicating an intent to surrender.
HAMAS has done all this and more, and the Laws of Armed Conflict correctly hold
them responsible for the results.
But, they do it anyway - because they know that it will cause useful allies in the West to put strategic pressure on Israel. Use perfidy on Israel, and get the West to blame Israel for the results of HAMAS' actions. :-/
I don't. Israeli soldiers are responsible for that and should be prosecuted accordingly.