Amnesty International says there is 'unequivocal' evidence Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Israel has 'clear intent' to destroy Palestinians, says human rights group

Palestinians, displaced from Beit Lahia, arrive in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP

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There is “unequivocal” evidence Israel is committing genocidal acts in Gaza with a “clear intent to destroy Palestinians”, according to Amnesty International.

The conclusion, set out in a 296-page report focusing on a nine-month period from October 2023 to July 2024, marks the first time Amnesty, or any human rights organisation, has accused Israel of genocide in the 14-month conflict.

An investigation by the human rights group claimed that Israel has committed three of the five acts prohibited under the genocide convention – killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and “deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.

The existence of those acts alone is not sufficient to meet the genocide convention threshold, said Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard.

“We have further determined, crucially, that Israel committed those actions with the clear intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza,” she added, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday from The Hague, home to the International Criminal Court.

Ever since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, “Palestinian citizens have been held in a nightmare day after day”, she said.

Examples highlighted in the report include an air strike in April that destroyed a family’s house in eastern Rafah, killing three generations, including 16 children, while they were sleeping.

It also cited the decision to “cut off” electricity, water and fuel on October 7, 2023. “In the nine months reviewed for this report, Israel maintained a suffocating, unlawful blockade, tightly controlled access to energy sources, failed to facilitate meaningful humanitarian access within Gaza and obstructed the import and delivery of life saving goods and humanitarian aid, particularly to areas north of Wadi Gaza,” it said. “They thereby exacerbated an already existing humanitarian crisis.”

Ms Callamard cited several examples, including “deliberate, direct attacks” on civilians and civilian infrastructure where there was no Hamas presence or any other military objectives, as well as the use of heavy explosives in densely populated residential areas.

The report was based on fieldwork, interviews and analysis, including statements by Israeli officials, which featured “repeated” use of dehumanising language.

“We found statements calling for genocidal acts and other crimes under international law. We verified videos of soldiers replicating these narratives, calling for the erasure of Gaza or to make it turn inhabitable. Celebrating the destruction of Palestinian homes, mosques, schools and universities," said Ms Callamard.

“Only one reasonable conclusion could be drawn. Israel authorities intended and intend to commit genocide in Gaza in parallel to, or as a means of achieving its military goal, including achieving defeating Hamas.”

Yahya Sinwar killed in Gaza - in pictures

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  A person the Israeli army says is Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in the Tal Al Sultan area in Rafah, southern Gaza. Reuters

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  Israel's Chief of the General Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, left, and the head of the Israeli Security Agency Ronen Bar, visiting what the Israeli army says is the location where Sinwar was killed. AFP

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  Israeli security forces stand guard outside the National Centre of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv on October 17. AFP

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  People dance and wave Israeli national flags as they celebrate the news of the death of Sinwar, in the Israeli costal city of Netanya, on October 17. AFP

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  US Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about the killing of Sinwar, at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. AP

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  A demonstrator holds a sign about the killing of Sinwar during a protest calling for a ceasefire deal and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas, on October 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel. AP

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  An Israeli soldier gives out food to a person after Israeli military said it may have killed Sinwar, at a checkpoint in Sderot, Israel. Reuters

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  A photo of Sinwar is displayed on a TV screen at a barbershop in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, following news of his death. AP

The blockade, combined with damage to infrastructure and agricultural land and mass forced displacement of 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, caused catastrophic levels of hunger and led to the spread of diseases at “alarming rates”.

“Utter carnage” has unfolded in front of the world’s eyes, with no end in sight. And Palestinians will bear the scars for decades to come," said Ms Callamard.

“The conclusion that Israel is committing genocide is unequivocal and evidence based,” she said. "We do not come to that conclusion lightly, politically or preferentially.”

On Wednesday, activist group Led by Donkeys unveiled a giant banner at Parliament Square in London reading "Yes, it's a genocide."

Giant 'genocide' banner unveiled outside UK parliament

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The report followed intensive investigation by Amnesty International into Israel’s conduct since October 7, 2023, and an in-depth legal analysis of court determinations on genocide.

Hamas’s actions during the attack that sparked Israel’s retaliation were “atrocity crimes without justification under any circumstances”, she said. Amnesty denounced Hamas's actions and continues to call for the release of all hostages, she said.

But for more than a year, Israel has “convinced” many of its allies that “its effort to annihilate Gaza is legitimate conduct”, lawfully targeting Hamas forces hiding in civilian areas, added Ms Callamard.

“We too have documented Hamas co-location among civilians. And we have denounced it,” she said.

But the military objective of the destruction of Hamas does not excuse or make permissible the genocide of the Palestinians of Gaza, said Ms Callamard.

“The heat of battle does not cloud the facts on the ground,” she added. “And the assertion that Israel’s war in Gaza aims solely to dismantle Hamas and not to physically destroy Palestinians as a national and ethnic group, that assertion simply does not stand up to scrutiny.”

South Africa brought a case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague in January, accusing Israel of a genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's staunchest ally, the US, has refuted the claims.

The International Criminal Court’s has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.