Amnesty has investigated Israel's actions following Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The organization's conclusion is that Israel has intended to annihilate Palestinians in Gaza, citing, among other things, scrutinized Israeli military operations, statements from Israeli representatives, and what is described as "a suffocating, illegal blockade" and illegal military occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Israel's evacuation orders have forced around 90 percent of Gaza's 2.2 million inhabitants to flee. Many have fled repeatedly to increasingly smaller areas where basic infrastructure is lacking, and where people live under extremely difficult conditions.
"There is no clean water, no toilets, and the bombing never stops. You feel like a subhuman here," says a 42-year-old father of three in the report about his time on the run in Dayr al-Balah.
"Too little and too late"
The material examined also includes interviews with over 200 people in Gaza, analysis of satellite images and video clips, and reports from UN agencies, human rights groups, and humanitarian organizations on the ground in Gaza. The report focuses on the first nine months of the war.
Too often, genocide is only recognized by its proper name after it's over. It's too little and too late, one can say, and one always wonders why it wasn't established earlier, says Budour Hassan, Amnesty International's investigator in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
She is one of many who have contributed to the report, including through interviews with witnesses, survivors, and victims in Gaza.
The hope is that we don't lag behind and that no one in the future can claim that this isn't true.
"Even worse cases"
Analysis of weapon fragments shows that Israel has used bombs with effects on large areas, including near hospitals in densely populated areas.
Amnesty urges Israel to immediately stop the actions prohibited by the UN Genocide Convention and to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. But so far, the country shows no signs of changing its approach, says Bodour Hassan.
Unfortunately, we have seen an intensification and deterioration over the past two months. We have now seen even worse cases of the patterns we have already documented.
Israel rejects the report.
"The miserable and fanatical organization Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies," the Foreign Ministry writes in a statement.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) welcomes what it calls an evidence-based report, reports AFP.
According to the UN Genocide Convention of 1948, genocide means "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
Genocide can be committed in five ways: by killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately creating living conditions aimed at destroying the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children.
Source: UN
In the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, a trial has been ongoing since December 2023, in which South Africa accuses Israel of genocide, but no verdict has been reached yet.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), also in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant against, among others, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, just two weeks ago.
