Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Amnesty International has said in a damning new report that concludes the level and speed of destruction in Gaza “has not been seen in any other conflict in the 21st century”.
The 295-page document accuses Israel of having “unleashed hell and destruction” on Palestinians “brazenly, continuously and with total impunity” during its 15-month bombardment of the besieged strip. The offensive was triggered by the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
The “unprecedented scale and magnitude” of Israel’s assault, which has also pushed parts of strip into starvation, has grown particularly acute in the north of the strip in the last two months, the global rights group added.
There, Amnesty says the besieged population is facing “starvation, displacement and annihilation amid relentless bombardment and suffocating restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.”
The Israeli military has dismissed the report as “entirely baseless,” accusing it of failing to account for the “operational realities faced on the ground”.
“Since the unprecedented attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023, the IDF [Israeli military] is actively working to dismantle Hamas’ military infrastructure while adhering to its obligations under international law,” it said in a statement shared with The Independent.
“The IDF takes all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians during operations. These include providing advance warnings to civilians in combat zones whenever feasible and facilitating safe movement to designated areas.”
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, said the group found that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention “with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.” It marks the first time Amnesty has alleged the crime of genocide during an ongoing conflict. The report is based on interviews with 212 people including Palestinians, local authorities in Gaza, and healthcare workers.
Amnesty also analysed more than 100 statements made by senior Israeli government and military officials, and official Israeli bodies – finding that they “dehumanised Palestinians and called for or justified genocidal acts or other crimes against them,” proving intent.
She urged key arms suppliers to Israel, including the USA and Germany, as well as other EU member states and the UK, to “act now” to bring the atrocities to an immediate end.
“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 said.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.”
“States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide.”
Hamas’s 7 October attack killed around 1,200 people, with another 250 also taken hostage, fewer than half of whom are believed to still be in Gaza.
Palestinian health officials say since then Israel’s offensive has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, including 13,300 children, since October 2023.
Amnesty said Israel has also forcibly displaced 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.2 million inhabitants, many of them multiple times, into “ever-shrinking, ever-changing pockets of land... forcing people to live in conditions that exposed them to a slow and calculated death.” It also accused Israel of deliberately obstructing or denying the import and delivery of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid.
Amnesty said it had shared its findings with the Israeli authorities on multiple occasions but had received no substantive response.
This comes after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity over how the war in Gaza has been conducted.
Israel has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic “blood libel.” It is challenging such allegations at the International Court of Justice and has rejected the ICC’s warrants.
“The deplorable and fanatical organisation Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli military said the report’s allegations of genocide and intentional harm “are not only unfounded but also ignore Hamas’ violations of international law,” including its use of civilians as human shields and its deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians.
