Amnesty accuses Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza

Amnesty says that its research over months “has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed – and is continuing to commit – genocide against Palestinians”.

The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted following 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”.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, said Israeli actions “include killings, causing serious 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,” she continued.

The report by the global campaign group comes as the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice at The Hague, continues to examine allegations by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Israel has called the case “wholly unfounded” and based on “biased and false claims”.

Responding to the allegations by Amnesty, Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Oren Marmorstein, described the human rights group as a “deplorable and fanatical organisation”.

“The genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023, was carried out by the Hamas terrorist organisation against Israeli citizens,” he stated, adding that Israel as acting in self-defence 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 “takes all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians during operations”.

About 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, were killed during the Hamas-led attacks 15 months ago, which triggered the Gaza war.

Since then, at least 44,532 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.