Amnesty says its investigations over several months “have found sufficient grounds to conclude that Israel has committed – and continues to commit – genocide against the Palestinians”.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted after the mass killings of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, said Israel’s actions “include killings, inflicting serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately creating living conditions for Palestinians in Gaza designed to physically destroy them.”
“Month after month, Israel has treated the Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” she continued.
The global campaign group’s report comes as the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, continues to hear South Africa’s allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Israel called the case “completely baseless” and based on “biased and false statements.”
Responding to Amnesty’s claims, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmarstein described the human rights group as a “deplorable and fanatical organization.”
“The genocide on October 7, 2023 was committed by the terrorist organization Hamas against Israeli citizens,” he said, adding that Israel acted in self-defense and “fully in accordance with international law.”
The Israeli military said it was “actively working to dismantle Hamas’ military infrastructure” in Gaza and that it was “taking all possible measures to minimize harm to civilians during operations.”
About 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, were killed in Hamas attacks 15 months ago that sparked the Gaza war.
Since then, at least 44,532 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Hamas’ health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
