In a damning report, the human rights organisation Amnesty International has determined that Israel is committing genocide against the people of Palestine.
The report follow’s orders by the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister, Yoav Gollant, and Hamas’s military commander, Mohammed Deif.
In their report, Amnesty details that over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s campaign, including 13,300 children, in “direct or deliberately indiscriminate attacks”.
“Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza”, stated Amnesty’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard.
Callamard further details that Israel continued to committed these atrocities, “fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza. It continued to do so in defiance of countless warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ)”.
He further slammed the international community for its failure to hold Israel to account stating: “the international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience”.
He also criticised states for their continued willingness to sell arms to Israel noting that these states “must know they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide”.
“All states with influence over Israel, particularly key arms suppliers like the USA and Germany, but also other EU member states, the UK and others, must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end”, he adds.
Amnesty’s press statement calls on the ICC to consider adding genocide to the list of charges against Netanyahu and Gollant. Amnesty further urges all states “to use every legal avenue to bring perpetrators to justice. No one should be allowed to commit genocide and remain unpunished”.
They further urge for the UN Security Council to imposed targeted sanctions on Israeli and Hamas officials implicated in violations of international law and for Palestinian armed groups responsible for the crimes committed on 7 October to be held to account.