Two leading human rights organisations based in Israel, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the country’s western allies have a legal and moral duty to stop it.
In reports published on Monday, the two groups said Israel had targeted civilians in Gaza only because of their iden y as Palestinians over nearly two years of war, causing severe and in some cases irreparable damage to Palestinian society.
Multiple international and Palestinian groups have already described the war as genocidal, but reports from two of Israel-Palestine’s most respected human rights organisations, who have for decades do ented systemic abuses, is likely to add to pressure for action.
The reports detailed crimes including the killing of tens of thousands of women, children and elderly people, mass forced displacement and starvation, and the destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure that have deprived Palestinians of healthcare, education and other basic rights.
“What we see is a clear, intentional attack on civilians in order to destroy a group,” said Yuli Novak, the director of B’Tselem, calling for urgent action. “I think every human being has to ask himself: what do you do in the face of genocide?”
It is vital to recognise that a genocide is under wayeven without a ruling in the case before the international court of justice, she said. “Genocide is not just a legal crime. It’s a social and political phenomenon.”
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) focuses in its report on a detailed chronological account of the assault on Gaza’s health system, with many details do ented directly by the group’s own team, which worked regularly in Gaza before 7 October 2023.
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Relatives of Palestinians who lost their lives during Israeli attacks mourn during a funeral ceremony at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
The destruction of the healthcare system alone makes the war genocidal under article 2c of the genocide convention, which prohibits deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group “in whole or part”, said its director, Guy Shalev.
“You don’t have to have all five articles of the genocide convention to be fulfilled in order for something to be genocide,” he said, although the report also details other genocidal aspects of Israel’s war.
Both B’Tselem and PHR said Israel’s western allies were enabling the genocidal campaign, and shared responsibility for suffering in Gaza. “It couldn’t happen without the support of the western world,” Novak said. “Any leader that is not doing whatever they can to stop it is part of this horror.”
The US and European countries have a legal responsibility to take stronger action than they have done so far, Shalev said. “Every tool in the toolbox should be used. This is not what we think, this is what the genocide convention calls for.”
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