‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians In Gaza by Amnesty International

On 7 October 2023, Israel began an offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip. Since then, it has killed and injured tens of thousands of Palestinians and forcibly displaced 90% of Gaza’s inhabitants. It has deliberately obstructed or denied the import and delivery of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid. It has restricted power supplies. Together with massive damage, destruction and displacement, this has led to the collapse of the water, sanitation, food production and healthcare systems in Gaza.

Amnesty International investigated this pattern of conduct and analysed public statements by Israeli decision-makers that dehumanized Palestinians or called for their destruction in Gaza. It did so within the context of Israel’s unlawful occupation and blockade of Gaza and its system of apartheid against Palestinians, as well as the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that preceded the offensive.

Amnesty International has found that Israel committed prohibited acts 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.