Human Rights Watch: Israel is guilty of extermination and acts of genocide in Gaza

 Consensus grows as US human rights organisation follows Amnesty in finding that Israel is committing genocide

A Palestinian girl holds glasses in her hands as she stands amidst the damage at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike in Al-Mawasi area, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 18 December 2024 (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)

By Katherine Hearst and Oscar Rickett

Published date: 19 December 2024 08:55 GMT | Last update: 13 hours 44 mins ago

Israel is guilty of the crime of extermination and acts of genocide in Gaza, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has concluded in a new report published on Thursday. 

The US-based human rights organisation found that Israel has inflicted conditions of life in Gaza calculated to destroy the enclave's Palestinian population. This amounts to extermination, which is a crime against humanity, and acts of genocide.

Coming two weeks after fellow rights group Amnesty International similarly concluded that Israel is guilty of genocide, the Human Rights Watch report is the latest sign of a growing consensus around Israel's actions in Gaza. 

In November, the International Crimincal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of a range of war crimes and crimes against humanity over atrocities committed after Israel's war on Gaza began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.

On 14 November, days before the ICC issued its arrest warrants, a United Nations special committee report accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and of prosecuting policies and practices in Gaza that may amount to a "possibility of genocide".

South Africa has brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), filing 750 pages of evidence of acts of genocide and genocidal intent in October. The ICJ has issued several emergency orders mandating Israel to refrain from actions that may amount to genocide.

In its new 179-page report, HRW said that Israel was following a “calculated policy” of depriving Palestinians of water and that this is one of the ways in which Israel is responsible for acts of genocide.

The rights group found that Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water since October 2023.

As a result, there have been “thousands of deaths” from dehydration and disease amongst Palestinians trapped in the besieged territory.

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The policy, which has involved cutting off and later restricting piped water to the enclave, targeting water and sanitation infrastructure and blocking the entry of critical water supplies to the strip, is tantamount to the crime against humanity of extermination and the crime of genocide, the report concluded.

It added that statements from senior Israeli officials calling for cutting water “have amounted to direct and public incitement to genocide”.

“This isn’t just negligence; it is a calculated policy of deprivation that has led to the deaths of thousands from dehydration and disease that is nothing short of the crime against humanity of extermination, and an act of genocide," said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch.

The report is based on interviews with Palestinians in Gaza, Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility employees, healthcare professionals and UN agency and NGO workers in Gaza.

It also uses satellite imagery, photographs, videos and data collected by doctors, epidemiologists, humanitarian aid organisations, and water and sanitation experts.

'Minimum amount'

Citing the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility and the UN, the report said that between October 2023 and August 2024, “people in Gaza did not have access to the minimum amount of water needed for survival in long-term emergency situations”.

The UN additionally reported that in northern Gaza people did not have access to potable water for over five months, between November 2023 and April 2024.

While the report noted that, due to the decimation of Gaza’s healthcare system, cases of deaths linked to water-borne diseases and dehydration are not being systematically reported.

It concluded, based on interviews with healthcare professionals, that “it is likely that thousands of people have died as a result of the Israeli authorities’ actions”.

The report added that these deaths are in addition to the death toll of more than 45,000 people killed by Israeli forces.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-denial-water-palestinians-gaza-tantamount-act-genocide-new-report-reveals