Amnesty report affirms Israel has committed genocide in Gaza

Source: Amnesty International. Balfour Project

On Thursday 5 December 2024, Amnesty International, a respected, international non-governmental organisation, published an extensive report which concludes that Israel has committed, and is continuing to commit, a genocide in Gaza.

The report uses the framework of the Genocide Convention to examine prohibited acts contained within it and the specific intent required to prove genocide. Amnesty focused on three prohibited acts: 'killing members of the group'; 'causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group'; and 'deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part'.

The full extent of death and destruction in Gaza will not come to light until rescue teams are able to count the dead and retrieve missing bodies, and the international media are at last allowed in by Israel.

According to the United Nations, destruction to civilian life has so far resulted in more than 45,000 Palestinians killed, including over 14,000 children, with more than 105,000 people injured. Amnesty also considered the impact on infrastructure and the infliction of conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza.

Intentional damage to hospitals, food production systems, residential homes, water and sanitation systems, and roads and energy infrastructure contributed to the mass forced displacement of the population and intolerable living conditions - with no early end in sight. More than 1.9m Palestinians - 90 per cent of the population - have been displaced.

Amnesty's conclusion is that prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention have been carried out by Israel, intentionally, against Palestinians in Gaza.

Responding to the report, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry denied the accusations, with a post on X that describes it as a "fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies." He recalled "The genocidal massacre on October 7, 2023, was carried out by the Hamas terrorist organisation against Israeli citizens."

Amnesty's own branch in Israel distanced itself from the findings of its parent group, saying it had played no part in the research and did not believe Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. However, the director of Amnesty Israel, as well as two Palestinian board members of the organization have since resigned.

The Amnesty report comes just two weeks after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence chief and one leading Hamas official for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Gaza conflict. They have denied the allegations.

Amnesty International also announced that it will publish a report on the crimes committed by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

Read the report here: https://balfourproject.org/bp/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/MDE1586682024ENGLISH.pdf