In a First, Leading Israeli Rights Groups Accuse Israel of Gaza Genocide

[Uncle Joe]

Israel says it is fighting against Hamas, not Palestinians as a group. But two of Israel’s best-known rights groups — long critical of Israeli policy — now say they disagree.

Palestinians mourning the dead after an airstrike in Gaza City in June.Credit...Saher Alghorra for The New York Times

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“The report we are publishing today is one we never imagined we would have to write,” Ms. Novak said at a news conference in Jerusalem. “But in recent months, we have been witnessing a reality that has left us no choice but to acknowledge the truth.”

As part of the case for genocide, international law requires that there be proof of intent. In the report on Monday, B’Tselem cited a string of dehumanizing remarks by Israeli government officials, such as a statement by Yoav Gallant, a former defense minister, that Israel was fighting “human animals” in Gaza. Some Israeli politicians have also said that their goal is to drive the remaining Palestinians out of Gaza.

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Israeli military officials often attributed the deadly impact of the war on Palestinians to Hamas’s strategy of fighting its insurgency by hiding among civilians. The Israeli rights groups said that alone could not explain the rampant death and destruction in Gaza.

“Israel’s claim that Hamas fighters or members of other armed Palestinian groups were present in medical or civilian facilities, frequently without providing any evidence, cannot justify or explain such widespread, systematic destruction,” B’Tselem wrote.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/world/middleeast/israel-genocide-gaza-rights-groups.html