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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