PORTLAND, USA, Jan 15 (IPS) – Although the Israeli government and some of its supporters deny it, the Israeli massacre against the Palestinians in Gaza is visible.
After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called the Palestinians “human animals”. Former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, also described the Palestinians as “vile and inhuman animals”.
The Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Nissim Vaturi, posted “Now we all have one goal – to wipe the Gaza Strip off the face of the Earth.” Also, Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared that “there are no innocent people in Gaza.”
In addition to cutting off food, water and fuel to Gaza, Israel retaliated against the attack with a devastating war in Gaza that included bombing, shooting and blockades. Those actions led to many deaths, injuries, suffering, displacement and destruction throughout Gaza.
As Israel’s war with Gaza approaches 500 days of conflict, the disparity in death, injury, displacement and destruction is staggering. For example, based on reported death tolls, which are considered significant undercounts for Palestinians in Gaza, approximately 96 percent of the Israeli-Gaza war deaths as of January 10, 2025 were Palestinians with approximately 70 percent of those dead. being women and children (Figure 1).
Although Israel, like all countries, has the right to defend itself, self-defense is not an excuse to kill people. Self-defense must comply with international humanitarian law and Israel’s actions in Gaza have failed the test of humanitarian law.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and his former security chief on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. ICC judges found reasonable grounds to believe that the two Israeli officials were guilty of acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Also, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued orders on how Israel conducts the war in Gaza. Among other things, the ICJ orders emphasized that Israel must conduct the war in a way that avoids hostage-taking and killing people.
The United Nations Special Committee to investigate Israel’s practices has found that Israel’s war methods in Gaza are consistent with elements of genocide, mass killings, the use of hunger as a weapon of war and the life-threatening conditions that were deliberately imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza.
In a report on the purpose, method, and detailed analysis, the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) at the Boston University School of Law concluded that “Israel has committed acts of genocide, which are killing, grievous bodily harm, and inflicting calculated living conditions, and intended with it, to destroy the Palestinian people in Gaza. “
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), an American-based legal rights organization, also said that Israel is carrying out massacres in Gaza. In its official analysis, the CCR reported Israel’s violation of the Genocide Convention and also criticized the US administration for complicity in such violations.
A former Israeli defense minister said the Israeli government, with the support of politicians far from the organization, intends to take over, annex and ethnically cleanse Gaza and build Israeli settlements there. He accused the Israeli government of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
In addition, Amnesty International released a report showing that it has gathered enough evidence to conclude that Israel has committed and continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza. The report directly criticized Israel for using famine as a means of war. Following the 7 October 2023 attack led by Hamas, Israel cut off water, fuel and all humanitarian aid from reaching the people of Gaza.
Human Rights Watch also reported that the Israeli authorities have deliberately deprived the Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe drinking water and sanitation necessary for human survival. They concluded that the Israeli government is guilty of crimes against humanity of genocide and acts of genocide.
Scholars and academics in Israel, the United States and elsewhere have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
Professor Amos Goldberg, chair of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, published an article in Siha Mekomitaccusing Israel of committing “massacres” in Gaza. He concluded that “what is happening in Gaza is genocide because Gaza is no more.”
Similarly, Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, also concluded that it is no longer possible to deny that Israel is involved in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. The main goal of the Israeli government from the beginning, he noted, was to make the entire Gaza Strip uninhabitable and to destabilize its people to the point that they would either die or seek all means to flee the area.
Governments inside and outside the region have also discovered that Israel is carrying out massacres in Gaza. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and Qatar’s emir sheikh has accused Israel of “collaborative murder” in Gaza. The Turkish president said Israel’s policy of genocide, occupation and aggression must end.
In addition, more than ten countries, including Belgium, Ireland, Mexico and Spain, have joined or signed their intention to participate in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
In the United States, less than a dozen federal government employees have resigned in protest of President Joe Biden’s Gaza policy. They accuse the Biden administration of being complicit in Israel’s killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been complicit in the killing of Israelis in Gaza.
Others explained that they cannot continue to work for a management that ignores the voices of its various employees by continuing to support and allow Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In addition, some have reported that Biden’s policy in Gaza has been a moral, practical and political failure as America has contributed to the deaths, including the starvation of children.
In addition, some elected officials in the US Congress, including Senator Bernie Sanders, criticized the Israeli government, saying that Israel’s actions in Gaza are “ethnic cleansing”. Also, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Jamal Bowman accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people.
A ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war and the release of Israeli hostages is possible as mediators report that a deal is closer than ever. Although that outcome is highly desired by the international community, a cease-fire and the release of hostages will not change Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It remains for Israel to take responsibility for its actions and reconfirm that Israel does not continue to exterminate the Palestinian people.
Joseph Chamie is a demographer, former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of many books on population issues, including his most recent book, “Human Standards, Trends, and Differences”.
© Inter Press Service (2025) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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