Nearly all Gaza’s population have been displaced by Israel’s war, with tens of thousands killed [Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images]
Key international human rights groups have labelled Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide, or said that it includes genocidal acts, a landmark development after 15 months of a war which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
In a report released on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said it found that Israel’s conduct in Gaza includes acts of genocide, which combined with Israeli statements may amount to a crime of genocide.
The 179-page report, titled ‘Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water’, found that Israeli authorities have “deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of water required for survival in the Gaza Strip”.
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Tirana Hassan, said that “this isn’t just negligence; it is a calculated policy of deprivation that has led to the deaths of thousands from dehydration and disease that is nothing short of the crime against humanity of extermination, and an act of genocide.”
Covering the period from October 2023 to September 2024, the report gathered testimony from 66 Palestinians from Gaza, including 4 employees of Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, 31 healthcare professionals and 15 people working for UN and aid agencies.
It also gathered statements and examples of actions by Israeli authorities about Gaza and the humanitarian situation there, such as the stopping of water-related aid into the enclave.
HRW said that like the International Court of Justice, it “found that some statements from senior Israeli officials calling for cutting water, fuel, and aid, in tandem with their actions, have amounted to direct and public incitement to genocide.”
A recent report from Israeli publication Haaretz revealed that in the Netzarim Corridor, which is occupied by the Israeli army and splits off northern Gaza from southern Gaza, Israeli soldiers are shooting at any Palestinian who dares to walk nearby.
“We’re killing civilians there who are then counted as terrorists,” a discharged officer from Division 252 was quoted as saying.
“The [army] spokespersons announcements about casualty numbers have turned this into a competition between units. If Division 99 kills 150 [people], the next unit aims for 200,” he added.
Likewise, an officer told Haaretz that an announcement that Division 252 had killed 200 militants in the corridor only had 10 confirmed Hamas operatives in the figure.
Haaretz also revealed that the commander of Division 252, which is stationed in the corridor, declared that “there are no innocents in Gaza”, which soldiers interviewed saying that it became “operation doctrine.”
MSF investigationÂ
As well as HRW, Doctors without Borders (MSF) also released on Thursday an investigation which found that genocide and genocidal acts are taking place in Gaza.
Titled ‘Life in a Death Trap’, the report covers the period from October 2023 to October 2024, using medical and logistical data from MSF and interviews from MSF medical and non-medical staff as well as patients.
It found that Israel has left the healthcare system in the enclave in ruins, that displaced Palestinians in Gaza are living in unbearable and unhygienic living conditions, and that Israel has made it as difficult as possible for medical evacuations to occur.
Christopher Lockyear, MSF Secretary General, said that “People in Gaza are struggling to survive apocalyptic conditions, but nowhere is safe, no one is spared, and there is no exit from this shattered enclave.”
He added that “what our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza.”
The latest reports come following Amnesty International’s labelling of Israeli conduct in Gaza as genocide on 5 December.
As well as Amnesty International, Holocaust scholars Amos Goldberg and Omer Bartov have both said that Israel’s war in Gaza is a genocide.
The International Court of Justice also determined that it was plausible that Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounted to genocide, with the court expected to have further hearings over the case through 2025.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,129 people, with a further 107,338 wounded, and utterly devastated the enclave.
