Amnesty International accused the state of Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war in a new report, an allegation Israel angrily denied.
The London-based rights organisation said its findings were based on “dehumanising and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials”, satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans.
“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement.
The war erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,” she added.
The Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack inside southern Israel on 7 October 2023, triggering a deadly Israeli military offensive as Israeli officials vowed to crush the militants.
Israel has repeatedly and forcefully denied allegations of genocide, accusing Hamas of using the Palestinian people as human shields.
“The deplorable and fanatical organisation Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X.
“The genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023, was carried out by the Hamas terrorist organisation against Israeli citizens,” Mr Marmorstein said.
The 300-page report points to incidents where there “was no Hamas presence or any other military objectives”.
It cites 15 air strikes in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 20 April, 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”.
“There is absolutely no doubt that Israel has military objectives. But the existence of military objectives does not negate the possibility of a genocidal intent,” Ms Callamard told a press conference in The Hague.
In addition to tens of thousands of deaths and physical and psychological trauma, the report also points to the conditions on the ground, where it said Palestinians are subjected to “malnutrition, hunger and diseases” and exposed to a “slow, calculated death”.
Agnes Callamard said Israel is ‘demonstrating its intent to physically destroy’ Palestinians in Gaza
“States that transfer arms to Israel violate their obligations to prevent genocide under the convention and are at risk of becoming complicit”, Ms Callamard added during the press conference.
Israel dismissed the Amnesty International report as “entirely false”.
“The deplorable and fanatical organisation Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The statement added that it was instead Hamas’s unprecedented 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that was “genocidal”.
“Israel is defending itself…acting fully in accordance with international law”, it said.
Since the start of the war, at least 44,532 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
Amnesty International has also announced that it will publish a report on the crimes committed by Hamas during the 7 October attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Hamas also seized 251 hostages during the attack, some of whom were already dead. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli army says are dead.