Israel committed genocide in Gaza-Amnesty
THE HAGUE—Amnesty International accused the state of Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war in a report published on Thursday, an allegation Israeli leaders have repeatedly denied.
The London-based human rights group said it reached the conclusion after months of analyzing incidents and statements of Israeli officials. Amnesty said the legal threshold for the crime had been met, in its first such determination during an active armed conflict.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Israel has consistently rejected any accusation of genocide, saying it has respected international law and has a right to defend itself after the cross-border Hamas attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 that precipitated the war.
Israeli officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Amnesty’s report.
No intent
Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border 14 months ago, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says that Israel’s military campaign since then has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians and injured many others.
Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza, a tiny, densely populated and heavily built-up coastal territory. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been internally displaced, some as many as 10 times.
At hearings earlier this year before the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague, where Israel faces accusations of genocide brought by South Africa, lawyers for the country denied the charge. They argued that there was no genocidal intent and no genocide in Israel’s conduct of the war, whose stated objective is the eradication of Hamas.
