The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is one of the bloodiest and longest-running in the World. Its history spans over a century, which began with the migration of thousands of Jews to Palestine, which came under British control from Ottoman Empire after World War I, continues today with the genocidal policies that Israel implements against Palestinians. The continuous, deliberate, and organized extermination of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip by Israel during the Gaza War is known today as the “Gaza genocide”. Because of the deliberate attacts on civilians ,especially women, the elderly and children, that Israel has carried out in Gaza since October 7, 2023, in disregard of international law, thousands of people were killed, tens of thousands were injured and more than a million people were displaced. In these attacks, which can be described as the worst massacre of the 21st century, Israel’s deliberate bombing of hospitals, places of worship and civilian settlements, as well as violations of humanitarian law that prevented access to humanitarian needs such as food and medicine, caused a major humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
International Law and Genocide in Gaza
Attacks by Israel against Palestinians, witnessed by the whole world, are accepted genocide in terms of international law. According to the report, published in September 16, 2025 by The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate all alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and and there are acceptable reasons to prove that since the war with Hamas began in 2023, four of the five genocidal actions listed by international law have been committed.[1]
In regard to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, ratified by the United Nations on December 9, 1948, genocide is defined; any of the five following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such:(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.[2]
For the report, Israel intent to destroy Palestinian group in Gaza by killing and causing bodily or mental harm, destruction of cultural, religious and educational structures and facilities, siege, starvation and blocking humanitarian aid, targeting of the healthcare system, sexual and gender- based violence and direct targeting of children. That is except from (e), the rest of the genocidal actions are committed by Israel security forces. If examined in more detail, ,with numerical data that genocidal acts by committed Israel, the truth will come to light more clearly.
Israel’s Genocide in Gaza by Numbers
According to The Palestinian Ministry of Health since the conflict started on October 7, 2023, more than 67.000 Palestinians were killed of whom nearly 20.000 were children and more than 10.000 were women. Notably, from the start of Israel military operations on March 18, 2025, until March 25, 2025, women and children accounted for about 60% of all casualties. OHCHR reports that between in just March 18 and April 9, 2025, Israel struck 224 residential structures and displaced people’s tents in the Gaza Strip. It has also been observed that Israel, by using heavy unguided weapons, has targeted deliberately settlements with a dense civilian population. Palestinians in Gaza were attacked in their homes, at hospitals, in shelters (including schools and religious sites) and in safety zones.
Collapse of healthcare systems
In Gaza at least 125 medical facilities, including 34 hospitals, have sustained damage in the last two years, depriving patients of necessary medical care. 1,722 health and aid workers have been killed by Israeli strikes on hospitals and the ongoing assault of Gaza. These assaults are a part of a larger pattern of attacks against the healthcare sector. The World Health Organization reports that since October 2023, there have been over 790 recorded attacks on medical institutions, including aerial bombardments of clinics, hospitals, and ambulances. According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 8 (2)(b)(ix), during the war hospitals can not be the object of attack and deliberate attacks on hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are accepted as a war crime.[3]
Deliberate destruction of infrastructure
The destruction of infrastructure in Gaza nearly total. Sixty-two percent of Gaza’s road network have been damaged or destroyed. As of April 2025, 71% of greenhouses and 83% of agricultural wells were ruined, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Israel has been deliberately targeting especially Gaza’s already-compromised water infrastructure since October 2023, hitting sewage facilities, pipelines, desalination plants, and wells. Today in Gaza over 96% of houses facing water insecurity and with 89% of the water and sanitation network destroyed or severely damaged. The emergency 20-liter (5.3-gallon) limits set for “short-term survival” are significantly below the reality, with nearly half of Gaza’s population surviving on less than 6 liters (1.6 gallons) of water per day for cooking and drinking, and 28% having access to less than 9 liters (2.4 gallons) for cleaning and hygiene.
Starvation and blocking of humanitarian aid
With military limitations that have prevented aid for months and an enforced food distribution system that sees people shot nearly every day while attempting to obtain food, Israel has also caused to the pervasive hunger in Gaza. In the two years since Israel has committed a war crime by using “hunger” as a weapon in its attacks on Gaza, 460 Palestinians, including 154 children, have lost their lives due to starvation. One in five babies are born preterm or underweight, and nearly one in four children experience severe acute malnutrition. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 40% of pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished as a result of the war. Over 2,600 people have been killed and more than 19,000 injured by fire from Israeli forces and GHF security contractors as they attempted to gather food from GHF locations, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The underlying reason behind Israel’s targeting of children and women in particular is to prevent their future existence biologically and culturally and to destroy the group which will carry Palestinians into the future.
Endless destruction and displacement
In Gaza the repetition of destruction acts gave rise to 92 percent of all residential buildings and 88 percent of commercial facilities had been damaged or destroyed. 62 percent of Gaza’s residents have lost legal documents of property ownership.Over 1.9 million Palestinian people have been displaced. Currently, about 1.4 million individuals need household items and emergency shelter.
Destruction of cultural heritages and religious structures
The Israeli army has directly targeted historical and cultural heritage, as well as residences and government buildings, in the two-year genocide it has carried out in the Gaza Strip. According to the government’s Media Office in Gaza, Israel has directly targeted 208 of the 325 archaeological and historical sites in Gaza, dating back thousands of years. Over 180 mosques were partially damaged, and over 835 were totally demolished also three churches damaged. Additionally, the Israeli forces arrested 26 clerics and imams and killed 255 of them. According to the Rome Statute, deliberate attacks against cultural heritages, religious sites and historical structures in times of conflict are considered war crimes and crimes against humanity. Moreover according to ICC, “Crimes against cultural heritage occurring simultaneously with other acts targeting groups may provide evidence of the specific intent (dolus specialis) required for genocide”.[4] At this point, the deliberate targeting and destruction of religious structures, historical sites, and cultural heritage during conflict is the most visible evidence demonstrating that genocide can occur simultaneously with cultural, physical, and biological elements. The goal here is not only to biologically and physically destroy a specific group; it is also to destroy the collective memory of those left behind by erasing all sources of belonging and identity.[5]
It should be noted that Israel is a party to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and submitted its ratification instrument on March 9, 1950.[6] According to the Convention, which 153 nation states signed or ratified, all signatories are required to undertake to prevent and punish acts of genocide, whether in wartime or peacetime. As a result, it is quite clear that Israel has not fulfilled its commitments under the treaty it ratified and continues to violate international law.
[1]www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-crp-3.pdf.
[2]https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocitycrimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf.
[3] Article 8(2).(b).(ix) of Rome Statue of International Criminal Court, https://www.icccpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf.
[4] Rome Statue of International Criminal Court, https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf .
[5] Gülden İrem Kazel, “Yeni Güvenlik Tehditleri Bağlamında Kültürel Güvenlik”, Trakya Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Uluslararası İlişkiler ABD, Yayınlanmış Doktora Tezi, 2023 (Aralık).
[6] https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-1&chapter=4 .
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