Amnesty International said in a report published Wednesday that Israel is committing acts of genocide against Palestinians, accusing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of treating people in Gaza as a "subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity" and "demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them."
In the 296-page document, the human rights group details military and political decisions by Israel that have caused mass death, injury and destruction, from the relentless bombardment of civilian populations to the imposition of a siege that has cut off humanitarian access to Gaza. The totality of Israel's actions, Amnesty said, proves that it is "deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction."
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now," Amnesty concluded.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 45,000 Palestinians, including entire multi-generational families, children and prisoners held and tortured in Israeli detention. 1.9 million more people — 90% of Gaza's population — have been displaced, often multiple times, while deliberate or indiscriminate Israeli attacks have all but destroyed the civilian infrastructure, including apartments, hospitals, kitchens, schools and water plants. Much of Gaza is now uninhabitable and on the brink of famine.
Israel, which called the Amnesty report "baseless," has claimed that the war is an act of self-defense after Hamas killed 1,200 of its citizens in a surprise attack last year. But Amnesty said that Israel's stated war aims do not preclude nor justify acts of genocide, as "genocidal intent can co-exist alongside military goals and does not need to be Israel’s sole intent." Furthermore, the report found no evidence that Israeli strikes "designed to cause a very high number of fatalities and injuries among the civilian population" are directed at any military objective, nor that there is any military purpose to Israel's "extreme and deliberate" restrictions on humanitarian aid.
In addition to interviewing 212 people on the ground, conducting fieldwork and analyzing visual and digital evidence to compile its report, Amnesty reviewed 102 statements issued by Israeli officials and personnel that they concluded were direct evidence of genocidal intent, including calls to "erase" Gaza and instigate a "second Nakba", invocations from scripture to wreak extermination, celebrations of death and destruction, and holding the "entire nation" of Palestine responsible for the Hamas attacks.
Against findings like this, Israel has always insisted that it is scrupulously following international law. The International Criminal Court disagreed, issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, earlier this month for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
President Joe Biden has called the warrants "outrageous" and continued to provide Israel with billions of dollars' worth of weapons, despite Netanyahu repeatedly ignoring the supposed red lines set by his administration. Amnesty's report accuses the United States, Canada, Germany and other Israeli arms suppliers of being complicit in the genocide, calling on them to "act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.”
