Two of Israel's most prominent human rights organizations, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, declared Monday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, marking a rare and incendiary internal indictment amid mounting international scrutiny over the ongoing war.
In separate reports, both groups cited systematic attacks on civilians, forced displacement, starvation, and the decimation of Gaza's health system as evidence of a deliberate campaign to destroy Palestinian society. The allegations, made by long-established Israeli watchdogs, have sharpened criticism of Western nations that continue to support Israel militarily and diplomatically.
"What we see is a clear, intentional attack on civilians in order to destroy a group," said Yuli Novak, executive director of B'Tselem. "I think every human being has to ask himself: what do you do in the face of genocide?"
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR) released a detailed account of the collapse of Gaza's medical system, asserting that the "destruction of the healthcare system alone makes the war genocidal under Article 2c of the genocide convention," according to director Guy Shalev. That article prohibits "deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group in whole or in part."
Israel denies any genocidal intent. Government spokesperson David Mencer rejected the claims as "baseless," adding: "There is no intent, [which is] key for the charge of genocide... It simply doesn't make sense for a country to send in 1.9 million tons of aid... if there is an intent of genocide."
Nevertheless, both rights groups pointed to a pattern of conduct, public statements by senior Israeli officials, and the scale of civilian suffering as indicative of genocidal intent. "There were enough times and enough opportunities for Israel to stop this gradual systematic attack," said Shalev.
B'Tselem's 79-page report, titled Our Genocide, stated: "Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip." The report linked current Israeli military operations to what it described as "settler-colonial patterns" dating back to 1948, including ethnic cleansing and demographic engineering.
Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched cross-border attacks that killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel, Israeli operations in Gaza have resulted in at least 59,733 Palestinian deaths and over 144,000 injuries, according to PHR.
Incendiary rhetoric from Israeli leadership has drawn additional scrutiny. "The government is rushing to erase Gaza, and thank God we are erasing this evil. All of Gaza will be Jewish," said Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu during a recent radio appearance.
Such statements were cited as reinforcing genocidal intent. "From the first day of this attack, Israeli leaders... said exactly that," Novak stated. "They talked about human animals. They talked about the fact that there are no civilians in Gaza."
Shalev warned that the effects of the destruction would persist long after any cease-fire. "There have been no MRI machines in Gaza for months... we're going to see the effects of that for months and years to come."
The reports also warned of a possible expansion of violence to the West Bank, where nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and 40,000 displaced since October. "They are now in the West Bank where violence is on the rise," Novak said. "What we worry about... is the fact that any small trigger might make the genocide spill over."
