Amnesty International concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and calls on world governments to act now

Israel is “shamelessly, continuously and with absolute impunity” committing genocide in Gaza, “with the specific intention of destroying the Palestinian population of the Strip” and “being fully aware” of causing “irreparable harm.” This is the conclusion of an “unprecedented” report by the international human rights organization Amnesty Internationalwhich points out several aspects that indicate the crime of genocide.

The first sign that the investigation mentions is the killing of members of the Palestinian civilian population. The second, serious damage to their physical or mental integrity. And the third, the intentional subjection of the Palestinian population “to conditions of existence that would lead to their physical destruction.”

These three points, described in the Genocide Convention“have been and continue to be practiced by the Israeli Army,” which, “month after month, has treated the Palestinian population of Gaza as a subhuman group, thus demonstrating its intention to cause their physical destruction,” as explained This Wednesday the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, at a press conference in The Hague, which elDiario.es attended via telematics.

“Our devastating conclusions should serve as a wake-up call to the international community,” added Callamard. Furthermore, Amnesty requests that the International Criminal Court add the accusation of genocide to the war crimes and crimes against humanity that it investigates, and for which it has ordered the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant.

It also requests that the accusations be expanded to other responsible parties, and that countries make their own arrests, because there are Israeli soldiers with dual nationality who live in different territories.

Israel has treated the population of Gaza as subhuman, thus demonstrating its intention to cause their physical destruction.

Amnesty International

The international organization warns of the current situation in northern Gaza, where for the past two months “a besieged population faces hunger, displacement and annihilation amid incessant bombing and suffocating restrictions on vital humanitarian aid.”

All of this has generated “unprecedented destruction”, produced, according to specialists in the field, “at a scale and speed never seen before”, devastating entire cities and destroying essential infrastructure, agricultural land and places of a cultural and religious nature”, as recalled Amnesty International researcher Kristine Beckerle.

This continues to happen despite countless warnings and against the “legally binding” precautionary decisions of the International Court of Justice”, in which Israel is ordered to immediately adopt measures to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to the population of Gaza.

Tel Aviv has failed to comply with these mandates, creating “a deadly mix of malnutrition, hunger and disease,” leaving the Palestinian population “exposed to suffer a slow and calculated death.” In addition, hundreds of people have been subjected “to incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment,” the report denounces.

The absolute and shameful inaction of the international community for more than a year is and will continue to be a stain on our collective conscience.

Agnès Callamard, general secretary

The responsibility of the countries

The Secretary General of Amnesty International has also mentioned the States that continue to transfer weapons to Israel, “such as the United States or Germany”: “They must know that they are failing to fulfill their obligation to prevent genocide and risk being complicit in it.”

Likewise, he highlighted that “the absolute and shameful inaction of the international community for more than a year in pressuring Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza – first, with its delay in calling for a ceasefire, and then, with the continued transfers of weapons – is and will continue to be a stain that clouds our collective conscience.”

Callamard has also named the United Kingdom “and other member countries of the European Union”, “with influence over Israel”, which the organization demands to adopt immediate measures to end the genocide.

“Governments must stop pretending that they are powerless to end this genocide, which has been made possible by decades of impunity for Israeli violations of international law,” he says.


Governments “must stop pretending” that they cannot stop genocide, they must “take action”

Amnesty International

“States must stop simply expressing their regret or dismay and take action with strong and sustained international measures, even though the conclusion that genocide has been committed may make some of Israel’s allies uncomfortable,” he adds.

Amnesty believes that the arrest warrants that the International Criminal Court handed down last month against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “offer real hope of finally giving justice to the victims” and are tools for countries to put an end to to genocide and bring “their criminals to court.”

Given this, it demands that the States respect the Court’s decision and take action to comply with it. Their spokespersons have regretted that US senators presented threats against the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and “that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has suggested that Netanyahu can profit of an alleged immunity”, which is not such.

In line with this, Callamard has mentioned the risk of collapse of the architecture of the system based on international law, designed after the Second World War.

With this report, there are already several organizations and institutions that point to evidence of genocide against Gaza

Other investigations indicating genocide

With this report, several international organizations and experts have denounced compelling evidence of genocide against the population of the Strip. The United Nations rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, published her research in March of this year, titled Anatomy of a genocide. Subsequently, 29 other UN rapporteurs issued a similar conclusion.

The Lemkin Institute for the Prevention of Genocide has also been warning for months “of the clear and conclusive evidence that indicates that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Gaza.” To all this we must add the recent report issued by the United Nations Special Commission, which reaches the same conclusion, as well as the complaints of experts on genocide and Holocaust, such as Aryeh Neier, Omer Bartov, Amos Goldberg either Raz Segal.

The International Court of Justice itself, the highest judicial body of the UN, admitted the genocide lawsuit against Israelpresented by South Africa. Within the framework of the same, said Court has issued several precautionary orders demanding the protection of the civilian population and the entry of necessary humanitarian aid into the Strip, something that Israel has repeatedly failed to comply with.

In addition to the South African lawyers, the lawsuit is represented by more than six hundred Chilean, French and British lawyers, among other nationalities.

Amnesty highlights the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid and illegal occupation in which the acts are committed

Methodology

In preparing its report, of more than 300 pages, Amnesty International has examined “carefully and in its entirety” Israel’s actions in Gaza, taking into account their recurrence and their simultaneous commission, as well as their immediate effects and their cumulative consequences, “ each of which aggravates the others.” The organization also considered the magnitude and severity of these acts based on the number of victims and the degree of destruction caused over time.

Furthermore, it has analyzed public statements by Israeli authorities and has taken into account “the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid and illicit military occupation in which such acts were committed.”

“The atrocious crimes committed on October 7, 2023 by Hamas and other armed groups against Israelis and victims of other nationalities, including deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking, can never justify Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian population of Gaza.” , he warns.

In that sense, responding to a question this Wednesday about the possible causes, the Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, indicated that “what matters is that this genocide stops.” “If it is carried out to eliminate Hamas, to access more territories or to secure a greater number of Israelis than Palestinians, the fact is that we are facing a genocidal intention, and it must be stopped,” he added.

In its investigation, the organization interviewed 212 people, including Palestinian victims and witnesses, local Gaza authorities and health personnel, explained researcher Bodour Hassan. Amnesty International had researchers present in the Strip, analyzed a wide variety of visual and digital data – including satellite images – as well as statements from senior government and military officials and official Israeli bodies.

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