Two Leading Israeli Human Rights Groups Have Found That Israel Is Committing Genocide In Gaza
B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHR-I) both found sufficient evidence that Israel's violence in Gaza met the legal definition of genocide.
Two of Israel’s leading human rights groups, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHR-I), have found that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and are calling for International intervention as Israel has now killed more than 60,249 Palestinians in the strip.
Published on Monday, July 28, B’Tselem’s 79-page report, named “Our Genocide”, said that Israel’s violence in Gaza cannot be justified explained as targeting only Hamas militants but is aimed at Palestinian society as a whole, meeting the legal definition of genocide.
It documented Israel’s mass killings, forced displacement of Palestinians and widespread destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure and healthcare system, as well as the physical and psychological harm it has inflicted on Palestinian civilians, as part of a “deliberate and coordinated” policy by Israeli political and military leaders to “destroy the Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.”
"Nothing prepares you for the realization that you are part of a society committing genocide.” B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said.
“What we see is a clear, intentional attack on civilians in order to destroy a group,” Novak said. “I think every human being has to ask himself: what do you do in the face of genocide?”
She also said that it is vital to recognize that a genocide is happening even without a ruling from the International Court of Justice, adding that genocide is not just a legal crime but a social and political phenomenon.
B’Tselem’s report debunked Israel's claims that it is not blocking aid and food from entering Gaza, finding that one of the main reasons Israel is restricting the entry of aid is to “exert pressure on Hamas to accept a more favorable deal for the release of Israeli hostages, including by fomenting internal unrest against Hamas among Gaza's population.”
It also found Israel has an “open-fire policy,” particularly at aid distribution sites by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with Israeli forces killing civilians indiscriminately and violating international law.
The reports also found that Israel’s evacuation orders before bombing civilians were often “unclear or misleading and did not leave residents sufficient time to evacuate.”
Additionally, after ordering residents to leave their homes, Israel repeatedly bombed the "safe corridors" the so-called “humanitarian zones.”
Meanwhile, the PHR-I report investigated Israel's deliberate, systematic dismantling of Gaza's healthcare system, including its attacks on hospitals and medical facilities, blocking of medical aid and evacuations and the killing, detention and torture of healthcare workers.
PHR-I’s director, Guy Shalev, said that Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system alone constituted genocide under international law, as it is deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group in whole or in part.
Both reports found that Israel’s western allies were enabling the genocide and shared responsibility for the suffering in Gaza, according to the Guardia.
“It couldn’t happen without the support of the western world,” Novak said. “Any leader that is not doing whatever they can to stop it is part of this horror.”
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