The two groups were B’Tselem, a rights monitor that documents the effects of Israeli policies on #Palestinians, & Physicians for #HumanRights — #Israel. Their announcement was the first time major Israeli rights groups have publicly concluded that the #Gaza war is a #genocide, an assessment previously reached by some organizations like #AmnestyInternational.
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In a report titled “Our Genocide,” B’Tselem cited the devastating effects of Israel’s war on ordinary #Palestinians to support their claim: the killing of tens of thousands of #Palestinians in #Gaza; the razing of huge areas of Palestinian cities; the forced displacement of nearly all of Gaza’s two million people; the restriction of food & other vital supplies.
All together, the Israeli campaign has amounted to “coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip,” the organization wrote. “In other words: #Israel is committing #genocide against #Palestinians in the #Gaza Strip.”
…The debate over whether the #war in #Gaza constitutes #genocide has also played out at the #ICJ, where #SouthAfrica has brought a genocide case against #Israel. The court has yet to rule on the matter.
…Genocide has a specific definition in #InternationalLaw: particular acts carried out with intent to destroy a group in whole or in part. The accusation hits a painful nerve for Israel, a state founded after #Nazi Germany’s attempt to exterminate European Jewry.
…Yuli Novak, director of B’Tselem, said she was not seeking to minimize the “horrific attack” that #Hamas had perpetrated on Oct 7. But it had prompted an #Israel assault on #Palestinian life in #Gaza that had spiraled into #genocide, she said.
“The report we are publishing today is one we never imagined we would have to write,” Novak said at a news conference in Jerusalem. “But in recent months, we have been witnessing a reality that has left us no choice but to acknowledge the truth.”
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