Gaza Herald- For the first time, leading Israeli human rights organizations have formally accused their own government of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. In detailed and damning reports, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) present evidence that Israel’s military campaign is not merely disproportionate, it meets the legal definition of genocide as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).
According to the Genocide Convention, genocide refers to acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. These acts include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, and more. B’Tselem and PHRI argue that Israel’s actions meet all these criteria.
A Deliberate Campaign to Destroy Gaza
The reports insist that what is unfolding in Gaza is not a war on Hamas, but a systematic and state-led plan to dismantle Palestinian society. B’Tselem’s 79-page investigation offers what it describes as “an unequivocal conclusion” that genocide is occurring. This conclusion is based not only on the devastating humanitarian conditions on the ground, but also on explicit statements from Israeli officials expressing a desire to eliminate the Palestinian population in Gaza.
Entire neighborhoods have been turned to rubble. Critical infrastructure—schools, hospitals, mosques, cultural sites—has been leveled. Over two million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, many pushed to the brink of famine. This is not collateral damage. According to B’Tselem, this is a state policy aimed at making life unviable for Palestinians.
Genocidal Intent: Not Just Words, but Policy
PHRI’s report adds a legal and medical lens to the analysis. It accuses Israel of orchestrating the “deliberate and systematic extermination” of Gaza’s health system. Hospitals have been bombed, doctors killed, and ambulances targeted. These attacks are not random or accidental, the group states, but a calculated strategy to destroy the physical means of Palestinian survival.
Both B’Tselem and PHRI cite repeated, public calls by Israeli political and military leaders to erase Gaza, expel its people, and inflict maximum suffering. These declarations, when paired with Israel’s actions, form a clear picture of intent to destroy—a central pillar in legally establishing genocide.
Beyond Gaza: A Broader Strategy of Erasure
The reports emphasize that this genocidal logic is not confined to Gaza. The same officials orchestrating the destruction in Gaza are also overseeing widespread violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem including airstrikes, home demolitions, refugee camp raids, and policies that degrade Palestinian economic and civic life. While the methods may vary, the objective remains consistent: the displacement, suppression, and erasure of the Palestinian people.
No Justification for Genocide
Both organizations reject the narrative that Israel’s campaign is an act of self-defense. They argue that the October 7 attacks cannot be used to justify genocide, ethnic cleansing, or collective punishment. B’Tselem stresses that no act of violence even one as serious as October 7 can authorize a state to deliberately destroy an entire population. The crimes committed against Gaza are not reactive they are premeditated.
Western Complicity in the Crime of Genocide
While Israel is the primary perpetrator, the reports assign moral and political blame to the international community, particularly the United States and European Union. These governments have continued to arm Israel, defend it diplomatically, and block meaningful accountability, even after the International Court of Justice determined there is a “plausible risk” that genocide is taking place in Gaza.
By enabling Israel, these states are not simply standing by they are actively complicit in genocide.
A Legal and Moral Emergency
The mounting evidence mass killings, starvation, forced displacement, destruction of medical systems, and statements of genocidal intent has been widely acknowledged by international scholars and genocide experts. Historian Omer Bartov and researcher Lee Mordechai, among others, have publicly confirmed that Israel’s conduct aligns with the UN definition of genocide.
B’Tselem emphasizes that “genocide” is not a rhetorical accusation it is a legal designation and a moral emergency. The world must act now, not only to stop the slaughter, but to preserve the very meaning of justice and international law.
The Verdict is Clear “Now the World Must Choose”
The reports conclude with a stark message: If the international community continues to ignore this genocide, it is not merely failing to protect Palestinians—it is abandoning the core principles of human rights and humanity itself.
The choice is no longer about political alignment or diplomatic caution. It is about whether the world will stand against genocide—or be complicit in it.
The report we are releasing today is a warning: the ideology driving the Israeli regime is not confined to Gaza alone.
The same regime, the same army, the same leaders, and the same officials are carrying out extremely violent practices against Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and within Israel. We are already witnessing the spread of the practices used by the occupation in Gaza to other areas—at a different scale, but with the same logic. In the West Bank, these practices take the form of airstrikes, the demolition of refugee camps, mass evictions, and the deliberate destruction of the Palestinian economy and society.
No Palestinian living under this genocidal regime is safe
There is no justification for genocide neither “self-defense,” nor “security,” nor the heinous acts committed on October 7, 2023, which sparked profound existential fear among Israelis.
The international community has not only failed in its duty to stop the atrocities, but the leaders of the Western world, especially the United States and Europe, also bear shared responsibility by providing support that enables Israel to continue its acts of destruction. It is the duty of the international community to stop the genocide Israel is committing in Gaza.
On social media, we see footage of people buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, displaced persons’ camps on fire, children dying of hunger, people desperate from extreme thirst, and hospitals unable to treat the wounded and sick.
As a human rights organization, it is our duty and responsibility to speak the truth: genocide is happening here and now.
