Gaza Genocide

Genocide is clearly defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and in the Rome Statute, which govern the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines Genocide in Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• Killing members of the group;

• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

ICC's Rome Statute, Article 6, defines genocide to mean "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

It should be noted that the crimes of killing and causing bodily or mental harm, and inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction are crimes enumerated in other categories of crimes that violate International Humanitarian Law, like war crimes and crimes against humanity. What makes these acts rise to the crime of genocide is “intent”. When the perpetrators express intent to commit these crimes and act on their intent, even if they fail to achieve their goals, their action amounts to this more serious category of crime-genocide. With this information in mind, answering the above question becomes simple: did the actors behind these crimes express any intent to impose conditions and inflict acts that would “destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”? As argued by South Africa before the International Court of Justice, and based on the findings of UN experts and independent investigators, Israel leaders publicly stated their intent to impose conditions, such as the complete siege imposed on Gaza Strip, which was declared by the Minister of Defense, Gallant, in October 2023, and order issued by Israeli ministers telling Gazans to move or be buried under the rubble, and the resulting deaths, starvation, destruction of hospitals and educational institutions, and the extremely high number of deaths among children all point to intent to create conditions that would result in bodily and mental harm to the Palestinians living in Gaza.

Most experts and people in general, know that what is happening in Gaza is genocide. More than 100 countries around the world acted to adopt Palestine into the UN a full members to stop the genocide in Gaza. The ICJ, the World Court, as it is known, agreed with South Africa who accused the State of Israel of committing acts that amount to genocide, and the Court ordered Israel to do stop these acts and report back to the court. Israel ignored the court’s order. Here is a summary of what South Africa alleged before the Court: South Africa accused Israel of carrying out genocide against Palestinians in Gaza – a claim that Israel has strongly denied as "baseless". Laying out their case, the South African legal team told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that Israel had demonstrated a “pattern of genocidal conduct” since launching its full-scale war in Gaza, the 365 square kilometer strip of land it has occupied since 1967. “This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life. It is inflicted deliberately, no-one is spared, not even newborn babies.” Israeli officials claim their actions are in self-defense and countered that the Court “lacks prima facie jurisdiction” in the matter, and the subject of the proceedings “do not fall within the remit of the Genocide Convention.” Briefs, documents, oral arguments, and Court orders are provided here: South Africa v State of Israel