Amnesty International Claims Israel Is Responsible for Genocide in Gaza

Amnesty International has issued a report claiming that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide, marking the conclusion of months of research.

The report, published on Thursday and titled “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman”; Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, includes findings from extensive witness interviews, analysis of “visual and digital evidence” such as satellite imagery, and statements from senior Israeli government and military officials.

According to Amnesty, the Israeli military has committed at least three of the five acts prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention: indiscriminate killings of civilians, causing severe bodily or mental harm, and 

“deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.

“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International.

“Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza,” Callamard said. “It continued to do so in defiance of countless warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice [ICJ] ordering Israel to take immediate measures to enable the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” she said.

“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,” she added.

Callamard argued that the context of “dispossession, apartheid and unlawful military occupation” in which these crimes have occurred led to only one conclusion: “Israel’s intent is the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Israeli military has maintained that it is targeting Hamas fighters embedded within Gaza’s civilian population and is not deliberately targeting Palestinians. However, Amnesty said this defence does not withstand scrutiny. 

“The presence of Hamas fighters near or within a densely populated area does not absolve Israel from its obligations to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks,” the report stated.

“Regardless of whether Israel sees the destruction of Palestinians as instrumental to destroying Hamas or as an acceptable by-product of this goal, this view of Palestinians as disposable and not worthy of consideration is in itself evidence of genocidal intent,” Amnesty said.

The organisation also found “no evidence” that the alleged diversion of humanitarian aid by armed groups in Gaza could justify Israel’s extreme restrictions on life-saving aid to civilians in the territory.

Israeli authorities have yet to respond to the report, though they have consistently denied allegations of genocide, asserting that their actions are in self-defence following the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October. Officials have also argued that criticism of their military operations is anti-Semitic.

The Amnesty report additionally reviewed more than 100 statements from Israeli government and military officials, 22 of which were made by senior figures directing the war on Gaza. These statements, the report claims, “dehumanised Palestinians, called for or justified genocidal acts or other crimes against them”.

Amnesty noted that such rhetoric was often echoed by Israeli soldiers on the ground, some of whom called to “erase” Gaza and celebrated the destruction of Palestinian homes, mosques, schools, and universities.

Callamard also accused the international community of a “seismic, shameful failure” in addressing the situation in Gaza. She said governments’ delays in calling for a ceasefire and their continued provision of arms to Israel “will remain a stain on our collective conscience”.

“Governments must stop pretending they are powerless to end this genocide, which was enabled by decades of impunity for Israel’s violations of international law,” she said. “States need to move beyond mere expressions of regret or dismay and take strong and sustained international action, however uncomfortable a finding of genocide may be for some of Israel’s allies.”

Faridah Abdulkadiri

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