Israel is systematically eradicating thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza as it bombs communities, destroys essential infrastructure and blocks the delivery of crucial food, water and medicine in its war with Hamas, Amnesty International charges in a damning report.
The crime of genocide is one of the most grave and serious offenses a nation can be accused of and the Israeli government is vehemently denying the allegations, calling them biased, unfounded and antisemitic.
Israel says its military operations are conducted in self-defense against Hamas, a terrorist organization accused of operating within densely populated areas and using civilians as human shields. The Israeli Foreign Ministry labels the Amnesty report “fabricated” and “entirely false.”
The government says that its military, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), takes extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties, including issuing evacuation orders and facilitating the delivery of aid.
Crimes committed by Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, will be the focus of a second Amnesty report.
Key allegations
The nearly 300-page document identifies specific actions by the Israeli government and IDF that Amnesty alleges constitute acts of genocide under international law, including the forced displacement of Palestinian families, targeted destruction of homes and infrastructure, and policies that systematically disadvantage the Palestinian people.
These are not isolated incidents, but part of a deliberate strategy aimed at erasing Palestinian identity and territorial claims, Amnesty asserts.
One of the report’s central charges is that Israeli policies amount to an intentional imposition of conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people as a distinct group. This includes restricting access to essential resources such as water, health care, and education, disproportionately affecting Palestinians in the occupied territories and within Israel itself.
The report cites evidence of land annexation, settlement expansion, and military campaigns targeting Palestinian civilians. “Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,” Amnesty's secretary general, Agnès Callamard, says in the report.
For months, she says, Israel "persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza."
Israel: Report 'based on lies'
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called Amnesty a “deplorable and fanatical organization” and said the report is “entirely false and based on lies.” A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said the administration of President Joe Biden believes the Amnesty findings are "unfounded."
Genocide was codified in the 1948 Genocide Convention. Accusing Israel of that crime elevates allegations against its policies and actions from general human rights violations to an atrocity that implies the intent to systematically destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
Israel, created in 1948 in the aftermath of the Holocaust – a genocide in which Hitler’s Germany systematically murdered some six million Jews – was seen as a refuge and response to centuries of persecution. To accuse Israel now of genocide strikes at the heart of its historic narrative.
It frames Israel as perpetrating the unspeakable crime it was established to prevent, creating a profound moral and symbolic dissonance.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to authorities in Gaza. Millions more have been displaced to tent cities and makeshift shelters and their homes reduced to rubble by Israeli bombs.
Israel faces other charges
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, is a civil tribunal that serves as the top U.N. court. Created to settle disputes among nations, it is weighing allegations brought by South Africa against Israel that are similar to those raised by Amnesty.
The International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, is an independent organization, based on the Rome Statue, and is not part of the U.N. system. It issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, alleging they committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
As the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, the ICC also charged the head of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, for crimes during the attack that sparked the Gaza war. He died in July in an Israeli air raid.
