- Israel’s invasion of Palestinian territory resulted in the greatest number of deaths among children, journalists, medical professionals, and humanitarian workers in recent history, according to a landmark report; the speed and scope of the infrastructure damage is completely unprecedented in the twenty-first century.
Karachi: According to Amnesty International, Israel committed the following crimes that are forbidden by the Genocide Convention: killing, seriously injuring physical or mental health, and purposefully subjecting Gaza’s Palestinian population to living conditions that are intended to cause their physical destruction.
According to the international human rights watchdog’s groundbreaking research-based report, “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman”: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, these crimes were carried out specifically with the goal of eradicating the Palestinian people, who make up a sizable portion of the Palestinian population.
Read more: Beirut under attack; Aid groups say Israel killed 20 staff in Gaza
The majority of the research for this study was done by Amnesty International between October 2023 and July 2024. By doing so, it concentrated on the conditions that existed on the ground during the nine months.
Their study shows that “Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza,” according to a statement released with the report by Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard. Israel has repeatedly shown its intention to physically exterminate the Palestinians in Gaza by treating them as a subhuman people deserving of neither human rights nor respect.
Amnesty International examines Israel’s potential genocide from the standpoint of state accountability in the report. It states that as Israel is a signatory to the Genocide Convention, state culpability arises when state organs, individuals, or groups commit genocide and their actions are attributed to the state.
Read more: Trump threatens the Saudi-hosted Arab-Islamic meeting on the troubles in Gaza and Lebanon
The study considers two factors when determining state responsibility: a state’s claimed wrongdoing and a violation of an applicable international commitment.
According to the Amnesty study, the battle in Gaza has resulted in some of the greatest known death tolls among journalists, children (13,319 as of October 7, 2024), and medical and humanitarian personnel of any previous conflict worldwide.
The most recent AFP count shows that 30 Palestinians have died in the last 24 hours, for a total of 44,532 deaths in almost 14 months. Additionally, since the Israeli offensive started last year, 105,538 individuals have been injured in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, “no other conflict in the 21st century has seen the level and speed of damage to and destruction of homes and infrastructure across all sectors of economic activity.”
According to a UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) assessment based on satellite data, approximately 63 percent of Gaza’s total structures have been damaged or destroyed by July 2024.
In the backdrop of the military campaign initiated in response to strikes carried out by Hamas and other armed organizations on October 7, 2023, the study focuses on the policies and actions of the Israeli government in the occupied Gaza Strip.
In order to ascertain if there is enough evidence to conclude that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, it evaluates them in light of international law’s definition of genocide.
However, just a small portion of the claims of violations and crimes against international law committed by Israel are covered in the extensive 296-page report, which is jam-packed with first-hand testimonies, interviews, satellite images, and analysis of journalistic films and photographs. Amnesty cautions that a more thorough evaluation won’t be feasible until Israel’s present offensive is over.
In the context of Israel’s increased repression through arbitrary movement restrictions, a startling increase in state-sponsored settler violence, the unlawful use of lethal force, mass arrests, torture and other cruel treatment, forcible transfer, and aggressive settlement construction and expansion, the report does address Israeli violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It states that a different inquiry is being conducted on this matter.
The meaning of genocide
Five distinct acts are listed in the Genocide Convention as the fundamental illegal activity of genocide.
These include: murdering group members; seriously injuring group members physically or psychologically; purposefully subjecting the group to living conditions that are calculated to cause its physical destruction in whole or in part; enforcing laws meant to prevent births within the group; and forcibly moving group members’ children to another group.
According to mens rea, each of these acts must be carried out with the general intent to carry out the underlying act, in addition to the special intent that defines the crime of genocide.
Israel continues to inflict irreversible harm on Palestinians in Gaza despite numerous warnings and legally binding rulings from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), according to the secretary general of Amnesty International.
“The world community needs to be made aware that this is genocide by our terrible results. In her statement, which was made public on Thursday along with the study, Ms. Callamard stated, “It has to end right now.”
Urgent actions
“An immediate, sustained ceasefire to save and protect civilian life and to allow for safe, consistent, and predictable routes to bring aid into and across Gaza for those who need it” is emphasized in Amnesty’s proposals.
Israel is urged by the Amnesty report to “immediately end and refrain, in the future, from all conduct that amounts to crimes under international law and other serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including… unlawful attacks carried out through air strikes and ground operations; the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare; the destruction of houses, land, cultural, religious, and other civilian objects without imperative military necessity; collective punishment through movement restrictions and limitations on essential services; enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrest; torture and other ill treatment; and unlawful and arbitrary restrictions on other human rights, including the rights to health, education, and family life.
It demands that Israeli authorities immediately cease the Genocide Convention-prohibited acts against Palestinians in Gaza; suspend, look into, and prosecute any state or governmental officials suspected of committing genocide; and fully and sincerely cooperate with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) proceedings.
It also demands that humanitarian relief and other life-saving commodities, including enough food, medication, gasoline, power, and other essentials, be allowed to enter Gaza without any restrictions. In addition to urgently and dramatically increasing the amount of aid that can pass through all of Gaza’s crossings and reach every location within the beleaguered territory, it calls on Israel to open all accessible humanitarian routes and access points right away.
No Comment! Be the first one.