Israel’s actions in Gaza meet legal definition of genocide: scholars' group
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The International Association of Genocide Scholars has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Eighty-six percent of voting members supported a resolution that states Israel’s actions match the legal definition in Article II of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
The group has about 500 members worldwide.
“This is a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide,” association president Melanie O’Brien told Reuters. O’Brien is a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia.
The three-page resolution calls on Israel to stop “all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.” It lists deliberate attacks on civilians, starvation, deprivation of aid, sexual and reproductive violence, and forced displacement.
The resolution also states the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war was itself an international crime. The assault, launched in October 2023, killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages.
Since then, Israeli military action has killed 63,000 people in Gaza, damaged or destroyed most buildings, and forced nearly all residents to flee at least once.
A hunger monitor used by the UN says famine is unfolding in parts of the territory. Israel denies this.
Hamas welcomed the resolution. “This prestigious scholarly stance reinforces the documented evidence and facts presented before international courts,” said Ismail Al-Thawabta, head of the Hamas-run Gaza media office. He added that it created a “legal and moral obligation” for the international community to act, reported Arab News.
Israel has consistently rejected genocide accusations. It says its actions are self-defense and is contesting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. There was no immediate response from Israel’s foreign ministry on the resolution.
Since its creation in 1994, the genocide scholars’ group has passed nine similar resolutions on historic or ongoing genocides. The 1948 UN Genocide Convention requires all states to prevent and punish genocide. Acts listed include killing members of a group, inflicting serious harm, creating destructive living conditions, preventing births, or forcibly transferring children.
Sergey Vasiliev, professor of international law at the Open University in the Netherlands, said the resolution showed that “this legal assessment has become mainstream within academia, particularly in the field of genocide studies.”
Several human rights groups and Israeli NGOs have already accused Israel of genocide. Just last week, hundreds of UN staff members urged rights chief Volker Turk to label the Gaza war an unfolding genocide.
