In its annual report dated Tuesday, the NGO Amnesty International stated that since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, “the world has been witnessing a live genocide” in Gaza. These accusations were already made in late 2024 and rejected by Israel.
Amnesty International has reiterated its accusations of “genocide” against Israel . “The world is witnessing a live genocide on its screens” committed by the Hebrew state in the Gaza Strip , denounced its Secretary General Agnès Callamard, in the preface to the organization’s annual report on human rights in the world published Tuesday, April 29.
“Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas committed terrible crimes against Israeli citizens and took more than 250 people hostage, the world has been watching a live genocide on its screens. States have watched helplessly as Israel killed thousands of Palestinians, slaughtered entire families spanning generations, and destroyed homes, livelihoods, hospitals, and schools,” she wrote.
In the Middle East section of the report, Amnesty reiterates its accusations of “genocide,” already made in late 2024 and categorically rejected by the Israeli authorities. “Amnesty International’s research has shown that Israel has perpetrated acts prohibited by the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian population of Gaza, thereby committing genocide,” the organization writes.
The report cites, in particular, “killings,” “causing serious bodily or mental harm to civilians,” “displacement and enforced disappearances,” and the “deliberate imposition of living conditions calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”
Humanitarian aid blocked
The Gaza war was triggered by unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Hamas also abducted 251 people that day, of whom 58 are still being held in Gaza and 34 are dead, according to the Israeli military.
Israel’s reprisals, which have vowed to annihilate the Palestinian Islamist movement, have since killed at least 52,243 people in Gaza, again mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry, considered reliable by the UN.
The Amnesty report also highlights that nearly 1.9 million Palestinians, or 90 percent of Gaza’s population, have been displaced since the start of the war, and accuses Israel of “deliberately causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.” Israel controls all international aid flows, vital to the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and cut them off entirely on March 2, days before the collapse of a fragile ceasefire after 15 months of incessant fighting.
“Test for our humanity”
In its report, Amnesty condemns the international community’s attitude, which “has failed to take meaningful action to end Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.” “Major powers, including the United States and many Western European countries, have publicly supported Israel’s actions, undermining the universal value of international law,” the report emphasizes, recalling the measures taken by international justice institutions.
The International Court of Justice ordered interim measures against Israel, which it “ignored,” Amnesty said, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC had also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, which was revoked after the recent official announcement that he had been killed in an Israeli strike in July 2024.
“Gaza is a test for international justice, and a test for our humanity,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa regional director, at a press conference Monday, pointing to the “extreme level of suffering” endured daily by Palestinians in Gaza.
With AFP
