The International Association of Genocide Scholars has declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under international law, the organisation’s president announced on Monday.
Eighty-six per cent of voting members from the 500-strong association backed a resolution stating that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)”.
The Israeli foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Israel has previously strongly denied genocide allegations regarding its Gaza operations, maintaining that its actions constitute legitimate self-defence.
The country is currently defending against genocide accusations at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
International Association backs resolution with 86% majority
Israel launched its Gaza offensive in October 2023 following an attack by Hamas fighters on Israeli communities that killed 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 hostages being taken. The Palestinian militant group controls the Gaza Strip.
Since the conflict began, Israeli military operations have killed 63,000 people, damaged or destroyed most buildings in the territory, and forced nearly all residents to flee their homes at least once, according to official figures.
A global hunger monitor used by the United Nations reports that parts of Gaza are experiencing man-made famine, which Israel also disputes.
The three-page resolution calls on Israel to “immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza, including deliberate attacks against and killing of civilians, including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population”.
Israel denies genocide allegations, cites self-defence justification
Hamas welcomed the scholarly declaration through Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, who said the resolution “reinforces the documented evidence and facts presented before international courts” and “places a legal and moral obligation on the international community to take urgent action”.
The resolution also acknowledges that Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel constituted international crimes.
“This is a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide,” said association president Melanie O’Brien, a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia specialising in genocide.
Since its 1994 founding, the genocide scholars’ association has passed nine resolutions recognising historic or ongoing episodes as genocides.
Sergey Vasiliev, a professor of international law at the Open University in the Netherlands who is not an association member, told Reuters the resolution demonstrated that “this legal assessment has become mainstream within academia, particularly in the field of genocide studies”.
The 1948 UN Genocide Convention, adopted following the Nazi mass murder of Jews, defines genocide as crimes committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group“. It requires all countries to act to prevent and stop genocide.
Several international rights groups and Israeli NGOs have previously accused Israel of committing genocide.
Last week, hundreds of UN staff at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote to High Commissioner Volker Turk requesting he explicitly describe the Gaza conflict as an unfolding genocide, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.
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