Amnesty accuses Israel of 'genocide' in Gaza

300-page report points to deliberate attacks on civilians

JERUSALEM:

Amnesty International accused Israel Thursday of "committing genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war last year, saying its new report was a "wake-up call" for the world

The London-based human rights group said its findings were based on satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans as well as "dehumanising and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials".

Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard accused Israel of treating the Palestinians in Gaza "as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them".

"Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now," she said in a statement.

Callamard insisted at a press conference in The Hague that "the existence of military objectives does not negate the possibility of a genocidal intent".

She said Amnesty had based its findings on the criteria set out in the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

Amnesty's 300-page report points to "direct deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructures where there was no Hamas presence or any other military objectives" as well as the blocking of aid deliveries, and the displacement of 90 percent of Gaza's 2.4 million people.

Palestinians have been subjected to "malnutrition, hunger and diseases" and exposed to a "slow, calculated death", Amnesty said.

The rights group, which is also due to publish a report on the crimes committed by Hamas, cited 15 air strikes in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and April 20, which killed 334 civilians, including 141 children, for which the group found "no evidence that any of these strikes were directed at a military objective".

The Amnesty report also referenced dozens of calls by Israeli officials and soldiers for the annihilation, destruction, burning or "erasure" of Gaza.

Such statements highlighted "systemic impunity" as well as "an environment that emboldens... such behaviour".

"Governments must stop pretending that they are powerless to terminate Israel's occupation, to end apartheid and to stop the genocide in Gaza," Callamard said.

"States that transfer arms to Israel violate their obligations to prevent genocide under the convention and are at risk of becoming complicit."