While Israel like every country has a right to defend itself, self-defense is not an excuse to commit genocide. Picture: WHO

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Jan 15 2025 (IPS)

Despite the denials by the Israeli government and some of its supporters, Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza is evident.

After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel’s former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant referred to Palestinians as “human animals”. Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman, also described Palestinians as “horrible, inhuman animals”.

Deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Nissim Vaturi, posted “ Now we all have one common goal – erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.” Also, Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared that “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza.”

In addition to cutting off food, water and fuel to Gaza, Israel retaliated to the attack with a devastating war in Gaza involving bombings, shootings and blockades. Those actions resulted in excessive numbers of deaths, injuries, suffering, displacement and destruction throughout Gaza.

As the Israel-Gaza war approaches 500 days of conflict, the imbalances in the deaths, injuries, displacement and destruction are striking. For example, based on the reported numbers of deaths, which are considered to be significant undercounts for the Palestinians in Gaza, approximately 96 percent of the Israel-Gaza war deaths as of 10 January 2025 have been to Palestinians with nearly 70 percent of those deaths being women and children (Figure 1).

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

While Israel like every country has a right to defend itself, self-defense is not an excuse to commit genocide. Self-defense must conform to international humanitarian law and Israel’s actions in Gaza fail the tests of humanitarian law.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and his former defense chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC judges found reasonable grounds to believe that those two Israeli officials were criminally responsible for 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 stressed that Israel must conduct the war in a way that avoids the commission of genocide.

Based on the reported numbers of deaths, which are considered to be significant undercounts for the Palestinians in Gaza, approximately 96 percent of the Israel-Gaza war deaths as of 10 January 2025 have been to Palestinians with nearly 70 percent of those deaths being women and children

The United Nations Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices found Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties, the use of starvation as a weapon of war and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians in Gaza.

In an objective, methodological, and detailed analysis report, the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) at the Boston University School of Law concluded that “Israel has committed genocidal acts, namely killing, seriously harming, and inflicting conditions of life calculated, and intended to, bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a US-based legal advocacy group, has also said that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In its legal analysis, the CCR reported on Israel’s violations of the Genocide Convention and also criticized the US administration for its complicity in those violations.

A former Israeli defense minister said that Israel’s government with the support of far-right politicians was aiming to occupy, 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 issued a report indicating that it had gathered sufficient evidence to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The report specifically condemned Israel for using starvation as a method of war. Following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack, Israel cut off water, fuel and nearly all humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch also reported that Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation needed for basic human survival. They concluded that the Israeli government is responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide.

Scholars and academicians in Israel, the United State as well as 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 Mekomit accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. He concluded that “what is happening in Gaza is a genocide because Gaza does not exist anymore.”

Similarly, Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, also concluded it is no longer possible to deny that Israel has been engaged in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions. The Israeli government’s ultimate goal from the very beginning, he noted, had been to make the entire Gaza Strip uninhabitable and to debilitate its population to such a degree that it would either die out or seek all possible options to flee the territory.

Governments inside and outside the region have also found Israel committing genocide in Gaza. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and Qatar’s emir sheikh accused Israel of committing a “collective genocide” in Gaza. Turkey’s president said that Israel’s policy of genocide, occupation, and invasion must come to an end.

In addition, more than a dozen countries, including Belgium, Ireland, Mexico and Spain, have joined or signaled their intention to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

In the United States, no less than a dozen federal government employees have resigned in protest over President Joe Biden’s Gaza policy. They accuse the Biden administration of complicity in Israel’s killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, which contributed to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Some explained that they could not continue working for an administration that ignores the voices of its diverse staff by continuing to fund and enable Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In addition, others have reported that Biden’s policy in Gaza has been a moral, practical and political failure with America being complicit in civilian deaths, including in the starvation of children.

In addition, some elected officials in the US Congress, including Senator Bernie Sanders, have 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 have accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people.

A ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war and the release of Israeli hostages may occur as mediators are reporting that a deal is closer than it’s ever been before. Despite that outcome being widely desired by the international community, the ceasefire and release of hostages will not alter Israel having committed genocide in Gaza. It remains for Israel to be held accountable for its actions and also ensure that Israel does not continue its genocide against Palestinians.

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.