“Month after month, Israel has treated the Palestinians of Gaza as a group of subhumans, unworthy of respect for human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intention to physically destroy them,” said the organization's secretary general, Agnès Callamard.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced in a press release a report “fabricated, entirely false and based on lies”, assuring that Israel “defends itself […] acting in full conformity with international law.
This 300-page report highlights “sufficient elements to conclude that Israel has committed and continues to commit genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip” since the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023. in southern Israel, which sparked the current war, says Amnesty International.
UN criteria
The organization explains that it relied on “genocidal and dehumanizing statements by the Israeli government”, images – particularly from satellites – which document the devastation of the Palestinian territory, and field research with Gazans between October 7, 2023 and July 2024.
It claims to be based on criteria defined by the United Nations Genocide Convention. “Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. This must stop now,” added Agnès Callamard.
Amnesty points to “deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure […]the use of highly explosive weapons in densely populated areas”, the obstacles to delivering humanitarian aid in the territory and the forced displacement of 90% of its population.
Right to defend oneself
Reacting to AFP, a spokesperson for the Israeli army estimated that the report “fails to take into consideration the operational realities” facing the army. The Israeli Defense Forces “take all possible measures to limit the damage caused to civilians in their operations,” said this spokesperson, accusing Hamas of using “civilians as human shields.” Israel highlights its right to defend itself against the Palestinian Islamist movement, which it has sworn to eradicate.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to a count based on official figures and including hostages killed or died in captivity. Since the start of the war launched in retaliation by Israel, 44,532 people have died in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.
Israel decreed in October 2023 a “complete siege” of the territory, which has nearly 2.4 million inhabitants, with the following slogan: “No electricity, no water, no gas”, and now imposes severe restrictions on the delivery of aid. Palestinians there are subjected to “malnutrition, starvation and disease”, which “expose them to a slow, calculated death”, says Amnesty.
“Erasing” of Gaza
Since the Hamas attack, Israel has highlighted its right to defend itself against the Palestinian Islamist movement, which it has sworn to eradicate. “But let's be clear: military objectives can coincide with genocidal intent,” declared Agnès Callamard during a press conference in The Hague (Netherlands).
The Amnesty report cites the example of 15 airstrikes carried out between October 7, 2023 and April 20, 2024, which killed 334 civilians including 141 children, and for which the organization “found no evidence that they were directed towards military targets.
The document also mentions calls from Israeli officials and soldiers for “the annihilation, destruction, burning or + erasure + of Gaza”. Comments which underline “not only systemic impunity, but also the creation of an environment which encourages […] such behavior.”
“Governments must stop pretending that they have no power to end the occupation, apartheid and genocide in Gaza,” said Agnès Callamard. “States that send weapons to Israel are violating their obligations to prevent genocide, and risk becoming complicit in it,” she charged.
