Amnesty International's latest report accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, citing killings, displacement, and inhumane conditions as part of a deliberate effort to destroy the population. The findings, based on extensive research and evidence, also warn that states supplying arms to Israel risk complicity in these acts. «Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip», Amnesty International declared in its report on Thursday, December 5. Based on research conducted by the human rights organization, the report, titled «'You Feel Like You Are Subhuman': Israel's Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza», documents how Israel «unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians» in Gaza during the military offensive launched following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. «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», said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. «These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them», she added. «This is genocide. It must stop now», warns Amnesty international Callamard further warned that states transferring arms to Israel should recognize that, by doing so, they are «violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide». The report also highlighted that, over the past two months, the population in northern Gaza has been subjected to starvation, displacement, and annihilation. Moreover, Amnesty International's research reveals that Israel has «persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza». The organization noted that these acts were committed despite warnings about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ had ordered Israel to take immediate measures to enable the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. Amnesty International's findings are based on an in-depth examination of Israel's actions. The organization considered the recurrence and simultaneous occurrence of these acts, as well as their immediate and cumulative consequences. It analyzed the scale and severity of casualties and destruction, noting that these prohibited acts were «often announced or called for in the first place by high-level officials in charge of the war efforts». «Taking into account the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid, and unlawful military occupation in which these acts have been committed, we could find only one reasonable conclusion: Israel's intent is the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, whether in parallel with, or as a means to achieve, its military goal of destroying Hamas», said Callamard. Amnesty International's report closely examined Israel's violations in Gaza over a nine-month period, from October 7, 2023, to early July 2024. The organization gathered information through interviews with 212 individuals, including Palestinian victims, witnesses, local authorities, and healthcare workers. It conducted fieldwork and analyzed extensive visual and digital evidence, such as satellite imagery. Additionally, Amnesty reviewed statements from senior Israeli officials and official government and military bodies. Despite repeatedly sharing its findings with Israeli authorities, the organization had not received a substantive response by the time of publication. Morocco's position It is worth noting that Morocco is among the countries condemning the atrocities committed in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire. In late November, King Mohammed VI urged for an immediate, comprehensive, and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza in a message to the Chairman of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Cheikh Niang, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Expressing his regret over the ongoing Israeli military invasion of the Gaza Strip, the King called on the international community to «take urgent, immediate action to stop the war, compel Israel to lift the siege imposed on the Strip, and allow the return of displaced people as a prelude to starting the reconstruction of what was destroyed by the war». Earlier this year, Morocco's foreign minister emphasized that the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 «does not imply support for the Israeli government's actions», stressing that Morocco condemns, at the highest level, Israeli attacks against civilians, hospitals, and schools, deeming them unacceptable.
