Over the course of the Gaza war, which began in 2023, the State of Israel has been accused by hundreds of humanitarian and human rights organizations (NGOs, INGOs, and IGOs) of perpetrating a genocide targeting the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This accusation became more widespread among the international community as formal statements declaring the Gaza genocide to be a fact were increasingly issued by several prominent and reputable organizations around the world upon the conclusion of comprehensive academic and legal investigations on the matter, including: the United Nations (via a special committee and commission of inquiry), the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, Genocide Watch, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Médecins Sans Frontières. As a result, many countries have recognized the Gaza genocide, while others have deferred their position on recognition in the ongoing International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa. A number of countries besides Israel have denied the Gaza genocide on various grounds.
Throughout 2023 and 2024, humanitarian and human rights groups sometimes implied that Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip may constitute genocide without explicitly accusing Israel of genocide. However, these implications largely shifted to explicit accusations of genocide when International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israeli leaders were issued in November 2024; Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant have been charged with and are wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly for facilitating starvation as a method of warfare, which caused the Gaza Strip famine.
Israel has been characterized as engaging in four of the five acts constituting the crime of genocide under Article 2 of the Genocide Convention of 1948, with the only absent genocidal act being a perpetrator's forcible transfer of children belonging to the targeted group. The most frequent allegation against Israel in this context is that it has "inflicted conditions of life calculated to destroy" Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Specific acts cited by groups charging Israel with the crime of genocide include: practicing collective punishment, particularly by restricting Palestinians' access to basic necessities, such as food, water, fuel, and electricity; destroying medical infrastructure and services, causing the collapse of the Gaza Strip healthcare system; destroying civilian infrastructure, such as schools and cultural heritage sites; engaging in sexual and gender-based violence, especially to destroy Palestinian women; shooting and bombing civilians (extermination), which has disproportionately impacted Palestinian children; and violating various international conventions by engaging in chemical warfare, particularly with white phosphorus munitions. The intensity of Israel's military offensives into the Gaza Strip, particularly that of the bombing campaigns, has been cited as the primary cause of the Gaza Strip humanitarian crisis that has caused Palestinian societal breakdown across the territory.
Additional actions commonly cited by groups as proof of Israeli genocidal intent include the use of dehumanizing language for Palestinians; repeated forced displacement of Palestinians; the failure of Israeli soldiers to distinguish between Palestinian combatants and non-combatants in official justifications for relevant incidents; the minimization of the Israeli military's moral and legal obligation as a belligerent force to take any measures necessary to protect all civilians during combat operations; the failure of Israel's government to comply with a January 2024 order by the International Court of Justice to immediately halt military activity in the Gaza Strip, address and prevent or punish genocidal incitement, and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid and services entering the territory; the ignoring or downplaying by Israel's government of humanitarian alerts by the United Nations and other international bodies with regard to mass civilian death in the Gaza Strip; the number of health workers killed; the number of journalists killed; and inflammatory statements by numerous Israeli government and military officials, such as dystopian references to biblical passages and overt declarations of support for actions illegal under international law.
List
Date of accusation Organization Claim type Remedies sought Genocide Convention Art. II elements Sources Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention E C, AE, S K, H, C Palestinian Medical Relief Society E C, AC K, H, C Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor E / K, H, C Center for Constitutional Rights E AE, S C, K, H International Federation for Human Rights E C, AE, S K, H, C Action Against Hunger R AE, C, AC C CAFOD R C, AC C Islamic Relief Worldwide R C, AE, AC K, H, C United Palestinian Appeal E AC C Jewish Voice for Peace E C K, H, C Middle East Children's Alliance E C, AC C Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms E AW, S, AE, CS C, H Doctors Against Genocide E C, AC C Mennonite Central Committee E C C Palestine Legal E C K, C American Friends Service Committee E C, AC C Collective statement: ActionAid Action For Humanity Afri (Action from Ireland) Amos Trust Bloody Sunday Trust Centre for Global Education CESVI Children Not Numbers Christian Aid Churches for Middle East Peace Comhlamh Justice for Palestine Council for Arab-British Understanding Embrace the Middle East Feminist Humanitarian Network Gender Action for Peace and Security Global Justice Now HelpAge International Interpal Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign KinderUSA Medical Aid for Palestinians Médecins du Monde Spain Middle East Children's Alliance Muslim Aid Novact Institute for Nonviolence Plan International Jordan Sabeel-Kairos UK Sadaka-The Ireland Palestine Alliance TDH Italy Trinity College Dublin Students' Union Vento di Terra War Child War on Want WeWorld Welfare Association R C, AC, AE C, K, H Collective statement: ABCD Bethlehem Access Center for Human Rights ALEF - Act for Human Rights Alternatives Internationales Amos Trust Anglican Pacifist Fellowship Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz Asociación Otra Escuela Association Switzerland-Palestine Avaaz Baytna pour le soutien de la société civile Belgium Palestine Mental Health Network Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Caritas Internationalis Caritas MONA CCFD-Terre Solidaire Children Not Numbers Christian Aid Churches for Middle East Peace CIVICUS Clowns Without Borders Sweden Clowns Without Borders UK CNCD-11.11.11 Collective Aid Comisión de Justicia y Paz de Confregua Cordaid Corporate Europe Observatory Council for Arab-British Understanding Danish Refugee Council DAWN Egala Association Emmaus International Equal Legal Aid EuroMed Rights Network Europe Cares e.V. European Alternatives Fellowship of Reconciliation - USA Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid Firefly International Forces Watch FORO SALUD NACIONAL For You Foundation for Humanitarian Response and Development France Palestine Mental Health Network FSMAGH Fund for Global Human Rights Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Global Network of Women Peacebuilders Global Witness Greek Council for Refugees HelpAge International Hivos Human Rights & Democracy Media Center SHAMS Human Rights Sentinel Human Security Collective Humanity & Inclusion ICNA SISTERS CANADA Initiatives et Changement International Center for Transitional Justice International Civil Society Action Network International Fellowship of Reconciliation International Peace Bureau INTERSOS Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network Jewish Network for Palestine Jewish Voice for Peace–Health Advisory Council KAIROS Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives Kenya Human Rights Commission KinderUSA Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law Lebanese Center for human Rights MADRE Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax Médecins du Monde International Network Medicus Mundi Italia Migrant Roots Media Minnesota Peace Project Movement for community-led Development MPower Change Action Fund Muslim Association of Brantford Muslim Delegates and Allies Musulmanas de Guatemala por Palestina NO NAME KITCHEN Nonviolence International Nonviolent Peaceforce Norwegian Refugee Council Olof Palmes Internationella Center Omega Research Foundation Palestinian Assoc. of Brantford PAX Pax Christi Australia Pax christi Deutsche Sektion Pax Christi England and Wales Pax Christi Flanders Pax Christi International Pax Christi Scotland Pax Christi USA Peace Boat Peace Direct Peace SOS Peace Watch Switzerland Peace, Justice, Sustainability, NOW! People's Health Movement Permanent Peace Movement Plan International Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine Polish Medical Mission Première Urgence Internationale Progressive Democrats of Pennsylvania Protection International PVE Works Quakers in Scotland Resource Centre for human Rights & Civic Education ReThinking Foreign Policy Rethinking Security Righting Relations Canada Saferworld SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties Seenaryo Share The World's Resources SOS Children's Villages UK Ster Organization for human development Syrian Network for Human Rights Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights Terre des Hommes Netherlands The Advocacy Academy The Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation The International Federation for Rights and Development The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation The Namibia NGO Forum Trust The National Organization of Yemeni Reporters SADA The socio-economic Justice Initiative-MAAN The Syria Campaign Train of Hope Dortmund e. V. UK Palestine Mental Health Network United Nations Association - UK University Network for Human Rights US Council of Muslim Organizations Vision GRAM-International War Child WESPAC Foundation, Inc. WeWorld WILPF US Women for Women International Women's International League for Peace & Freedom-Minnesota, USA, Branch World Organisation Against Torture Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation مؤسسة مدافعات للحقوق والحريات R C, AE, AC C ActionAid E C, AC C Medical Aid for Palestinians R C, AC C US Campaign for Palestinian Rights E AE, AW, S K, H, C United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People E C K, C Amnesty International E C, AE, S K, H, C ANERA R C, AC, AE C European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights E AE, AW K, H, C Genocide Watch E S, AE K, H, C Human Rights Watch E AE, S, AW K, H, C Christian Aid R C, AE, AC, S K, C Médecins du Monde (Switzerland) R C, AC C Medico International E C, AC H, C Collective statement: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association Al Dameer Association for Human Rights Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights Hurryyat Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights Independent Commission for Human Rights Muatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights E AC K, H, C Al-Haq E AW K, H, C Al Mezan Center for Human Rights E AW K, H, C Defence for Children International E AW K, H, C Palestinian Centre for Human Rights E AW K, H, C Human Concern International E AC C Trócaire E C, AC C B'Tselem E C, AE, S, AW K, H, C Oxfam E C, AC C Physicians for Human Rights–Israel E C, AE, AW K, H, C, PB International Centre of Justice for Palestinians E C, AE, S C, K International Association of Genocide Scholars E AE, S, AW, AC K, H, C War Resisters' International E AC C American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee E AE, S, C, AC K, H, C, PB Council on American–Islamic Relations E AE, AW, S K, H, C, PB Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders E C, AC K, H, C Refugees International E AE, CS, S, AC C UNHRC Commission of Inquiry on Gaza genocide E AE, S K, H, C, PB UNRWA E AC, C C Médecins du Monde (France) E C, AC K, H, C Legend: