The Verdict - Israel Guilty of Genocide and War Crimes
Israel’s Devastation of Gaza
The Inescapable
Verdict of Genocide and War Crimes
By Kieran Beville
For more than a year now, the Gaza Strip has borne the brunt
of an unrelenting military assault that has devastated its people and
infrastructure beyond measure. Reports from Gaza’s Ministry of Health and
international humanitarian agencies reveal a staggering death toll exceeding
70,000 Palestinians. Tens of thousands more lie injured, many with permanent
disabilities. Amid this catastrophic loss of life, over two million people
remain trapped in a strip of land crippled by an ironclad blockade that denies
them basic necessities such as food, clean water, medicine, and electricity.
Entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins,
hospitals and clinics have been bombed repeatedly or are barely functioning due
to lack of fuel and electricity, and countless families have been wiped out in
their homes. Yet, this human tragedy is far more than the collateral damage of
war.
Legal experts and human rights advocates
argue with increasing urgency that the scale, intensity, and intent behind
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constitute not only war crimes but genocide
under international law. This is not a conclusion drawn lightly or from
political bias, but from a rigorous analysis of international treaties, decades
of judicial precedent, and the overwhelming facts on the ground.
The term genocide carries immense weight.
It was coined to describe the gravest crime against humanity—the intentional
destruction of an entire group of people. According to the 1948 Genocide
Convention, genocide involves acts committed with the purpose of destroying,
wholly or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. This
destruction can take many forms: killing members of the group, inflicting
serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately creating living conditions intended
to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, or
forcibly transferring children to another group. Among these, the crucial and
defining element is the intent to annihilate the group as such.
When we look at Gaza today, the grim
reality aligns closely with these legal criteria. The human toll alone is
staggering. Over 70,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians including a devastating
number of children, have been killed during this ongoing campaign. The
humanitarian situation is nothing short of catastrophic. Hospitals that once
served millions now operate in near total darkness, lacking fuel for generators
and running out of essential medicines. Clean water is scarce as aquifers are
destroyed or contaminated. Food shortages are widespread, and fuel deprivation
has grounded ambulances and emergency services, compounding the suffering.
International law recognises that
deliberately inflicting such conditions—starvation, medical deprivation, and
destruction of essential infrastructure—can amount to genocide. In Gaza, these
conditions have not occurred incidentally or as an unavoidable side effect of
combat; rather, they have been imposed deliberately and systematically.
This is evident not only in the physical
devastation but in the repeated public declarations from Israeli political and
military officials. Statements openly calling for Gaza to be “flattened,” or
describing the population as “human animals” and vowing to prevent their
recovery for decades, signal a clear intent to destroy not just military
targets but the people themselves.
Proving intent is notoriously difficult in
law, but international courts have long accepted official statements and consistent
policy patterns as decisive evidence. The parallels to past genocides are
stark. In the 2007 Bosnia v. Serbia case, the International Court of Justice
confirmed that targeting part of a protected group with the aim of destroying
it qualifies as genocide. The population of Gaza—millions of Palestinians
living in a tightly confined area—has been subjected to this targeting on an
unprecedented scale. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia’s 2001 conviction of Radislav Krstić for genocide in Srebrenica
similarly emphasised how intent could be inferred from the combination of mass
killing and official rhetoric. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda’s
1998 Akayesu judgment further established that imposing deadly living conditions,
including starvation and denial of medical care, meets the criteria for
genocide.
Even setting aside the charge of genocide,
Israel’s conduct in Gaza unquestionably constitutes war crimes. International
humanitarian law strictly prohibits the intentional targeting of civilians and
civilian infrastructure. It forbids the use of starvation as a method of
warfare and outlaws collective punishment of entire populations. The ongoing
siege of Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel, and medical supplies, fits
precisely this description. The International Court of Justice’s 2004 advisory
opinion reaffirmed the illegality of collective punishment under international
law, a principle flagrantly violated by the blockade.
Predictably, Israel and its supporters argue
that this military campaign is a lawful act of self-defence against Hamas
militants who operate within densely populated civilian areas. However,
international law makes it clear that violations committed by one party do not
justify breaches by the other. The 1997 judgment of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Tadić case clarified that all parties
in a conflict must protect civilians and uphold the principles of
proportionality and distinction. The presence of militants among civilians
cannot excuse the widespread and disproportionate destruction inflicted on
Gaza’s entire population.
Nor do the violent and incendiary
statements from Israeli leaders constitute mere rhetoric—they have been
recognised in multiple legal precedents as evidence of genocidal intent when
paired with corresponding actions.
In response to the mounting evidence and
international pressure, the International Court of Justice has issued
provisional measures ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts and to allow
unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza. The International Criminal Court has
opened investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in
the region. While justice may be slow and imperfect, these actions represent
essential steps toward holding perpetrators accountable and upholding the rule
of law.
The facts are undeniable: tens of
thousands dead, a civilian population subjected to systematic starvation and
deprivation, infrastructure destroyed on a massive scale, and public statements
revealing an intent to destroy. The only legally and morally consistent
conclusion is that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constitutes genocide and
war crimes. To deny or minimize this reality is to ignore the law, the
evidence, and the suffering of millions.
But this is not just a legal issue — it is
profoundly human. Survivors of the conflict recount the horrors of losing loved
ones, of children dying for lack of medicine or fuel to run life-saving
equipment. They tell stories of entire families buried beneath the rubble of
their homes. Doctors describe working in hospitals without electricity, running
out of basic supplies, while patients succumb to preventable causes. These
voices are the living testimony behind the cold legal terms.
The international community faces a
historic moral and legal imperative. Upholding justice for Gaza is not
optional; it is essential to preserving the very foundations of international
law and human dignity. If the world turns away from this injustice, it risks normalising
impunity for the most egregious crimes against humanity. The consequences will
extend far beyond Gaza, threatening vulnerable populations everywhere.
In sum, the evidence and law converge on
one inescapable truth: Israel’s campaign in Gaza is genocide and war crimes.
The global community must act—through enforceable measures, through justice,
and through unwavering solidarity with the victims. Anything less is a betrayal
of humanity itself.
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