Israel ‘must stop’: Amnesty finds ‘clear intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza’ in 9-month probe
Amnesty International has found “sufficient evidence” to conclude that Israel has committed and continues to commit “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza, stating that “genocidal intent has been part and parcel of Israel’s conduct in Gaza since Oct 7 2023, including its military campaign.”
In its latest report titled, ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, the human rights body accused Israel of carrying out prohibited actions under the Genocide Convention, namely “killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
“It considers that Israel committed these acts with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, as such. It concludes that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.”
In retaliation to Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attacks, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians and injured nearly 105,739 — with the death toll feared to be much higher due to thousands still missing under the rubble.
Amnesty International conducted the research for the report between Oct 2023 and July 2024. In doing so, it investigated the situation on the ground during the nine-month period.
The organisation interviewed 212 people, including Palestinian victims and witnesses, local authorities in Gaza, healthcare workers and NGO staff, conducted fieldwork and analysed a range of visual and digital evidence, such as satellite imagery. It also analysed statements by the Israeli government, army officials, and official Israeli bodies.
The report quoted a 42-year-old named Mohammed who spoke about his experience of displacement from Rafah: “Here in Deir Al-Balah, it’s like an apocalypse. There is no room for you to pitch a tent; you have to set it up near the coast … You have to protect your children from insects, from the heat, and there is no clean water, no toilets, all while the bombing never stops. You feel like you are subhuman here.”Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, as the conflict continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec 4, 2024. — Reuters
Israel has committed at least three out of the five acts banned under the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, according to the findings.
“Genocide is a crime under international law, whether committed in times of peace or armed conflict,” the report stated.
In the report, Amnesty International considered the possible commission of genocide by Israel from the perspective of state responsibility.
It noted that Israel is a party to the Genocide Convention, and the commission of genocide by organs of the state or persons or groups whose conduct is attributable to the state accordingly gives rise to state responsibility.
For the assessment of state responsibility, the report takes two elements into account: attribution of allegedly wrongful conduct to a state and a breach of an applicable international obligation.
Amnesty noted that the conflict in Gaza has seen some of the highest known death tolls among children (13,319 by Oct 7, 2024), journalists, as well as health and humanitarian workers of any recent conflict in the world.
“The level and speed of damage to and destruction of homes and infrastructure across all sectors of economic activity has similarly not been seen in any other conflict in the 21st century,” it noted.