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Israel committing genocide in Gaza, confirms international scholars body
Israel has also been accused of carrying out war crimes in the Gaza Strip at the International Court of Justice filed by South Africa in 2023.
As the war in Gaza rages on, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has stated that Israel's actions in the Palestinian territory can be legally defined as a genocide.
In a statement issued on Monday, the world's leading association declared that Israel is and has been committing a genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has also been accused of carrying out war crimes in the Gaza Strip at the International Court of Justice after South Africa filed a case against the state in 2023.
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The IAGS is the world's largest professional association of genocide scholars, which also includes a number of Holocaust experts.
Founded in 1994, the IAGS as a total of 500 members. Of this, 28% took part in the vote and 86% of those who voted supported the resolution.
What does the IAGS resolution state?
In its three-page resolution, the IAGS lists the actions and operations carried out by Israel and the Israel Defence Forces in the last 22 months of the war in Gaza and recognised these acts as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The IAGS resolution also notes that 50,000 children have been killed or injured due to Israeli operations in Gaza, a number which was previously highlighted by UNICEF.
The resolution also notes the threats and calls made by several Israeli leaders for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
The scholar group further noted that while Hamas' terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was also a crime, the Israeli response is not only targeting Hamas but also Gaza's Palestinian population.
Before the IAGS resolution, two Israeli rights organisations - B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel - also stated that Israel's operations in Gaza constitute a genocide against the Palestinian people.
After listing the litany of actions conducted by the Israeli military and government in Gaza, the scholar body declared that Israel's action meet the legal criteria of a genocide as defined in Article 2 of the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).
The Genocide Convention of 1948 was adopted after the mass murder of the Jewish population in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. As per this, a genocide is defined as crimes committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".
Israel slams report
Israel has continued its claims of Hamas propaganda and dismissed the report. As per a statement issued by the Israeli foreign ministry, the IAGS report was based on "Hamas' lies", calling the research an "embarrassment to the legal profession".
A statement further stated that it was Tel Aviv which was actually a victim of genocide.
Gaza death toll over 63,000
As per the latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, over 63,000 people have been killed since October 2023.
As per reports, the Hamas-run Ministry said that 63,557 people had been killed and at least 160,660 people have been injured.
Furthermore, UN-backed food monitor, the IPC, confirmed that famine was taking place in parts of Gaza, a claim which was yet again denied by Israel.
