Statement on Why We Call the Israeli Attack on Gaza Genocide

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, increasingly concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the territory of the State of Palestine (including Gaza and the West Bank), which has already resulted in the death of at least 21,636 Palestinians, including at least 8,276 children, and injuries to an additional 59,403, according to the latest estimates, is issuing the present statement to explain the reasons why we believe the Israel-Palestine situation constitutes an instance of genocide.

The Immediate Context

The genocide being perpetrated by the State of Israel is embedded in a complex historical, political, and strategic context that seems to have fostered and, ultimately, devolved into a pervasive genocidal dynamic on both sides of the conflict – Israel, on the one hand, and the Islamist militant organization known as Hamas, on the other – as well as among segments of their respective populations, especially, as will be explained below, in the case of Israel.

On 7 October, Hamas launched an appalling attack against the territory and civilian population of the State of Israel. In addition to the destruction of homes and property, Hamas’ offensive resulted in the death of approximately 1,139 people, according to the latest estimates by Israeli officials. The final death toll includes 695 Israeli civilians, among whom 36 are children, as well as 373 security forces and 71 foreigners. These people were killed by Hamas militants and, to a lesser degree, by Israeli soldiers and military as they responded to Hamas’ attack. This attack also resulted in a high number of wounded civilians and involved the abduction of 250 people, 110 of whom were released during the seven-day ceasefire that took place between 24 November and 1 December. At the time of publication of this statement, 127 people remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

As the Lemkin Institute has previously written, “the atrocities committed by Hamas militants on the ground suggest that this unprecedented attack also had genocidal dimensions […]. The Lemkin Institute has identified several atrocities committed by Hamas militants that raise red flags for genocidal intent. Such atrocities include: the targeted massacre of symbols of group life, such as the murder of 260 young people at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel (within kilometers of the Gazan border); inversion rituals, such as the killing of children in front of their family members; and desecration rituals, such as the massacre of entire families, the setting fire to homes with families still inside them, and the desecration of dead bodies.”

Harrowing evidence of gender-based and sexual violence (GBSV) during Hamas’ attack has also been reported. In an important investigative report, based on two months of evidence gathering, the New York Times determined “that the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.” This report details forms of sexualized violence that are highly correlated with the crime of genocide, including brutal gang rape, rape as an instrument of murder, the desecration of women’s bodies, including, in one case, the ablation of a breast that was tossed around among the men, the mutilation of women’s genitals, and sexual violence against men. These are life force atrocities aimed at the destruction of symbols of generative power within the identity group being targeted. Hamas fighters’ filming and broadcasting of the lifeless, undressed body of 23-year-old German-Israeli citizen Shani Louk, who was attending the Supernova electronic music festival, is one horrific and very public example of the targeted desecration that Hamas fighters engaged in during the attack. Recent statements by UN Women and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have called for a careful investigation of GBSV on 7 October. The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel has announced that it will pay particular attention to GBSV in its investigation of the events of 7 October.

Shani Louk’s family is among the 56 families of victims and hostages represented by Israeli lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman before the French and German justice systems, and before the International Criminal Court. According to Mrs. Vias Gvirsman, the events of 7 October represented a “systematic and deliberate attack against a civilian population, involving acts of murder, torture, and mutilation targeting vulnerable individuals, the elderly, young children, and babies.”

Hamas

Hamas is an acronym of the Arabic phrase for Islamic Resistance Movement. Established in 1987, Hamas’ goal is the formation of a Palestinian state in all of the territory of historical Palestine, centering Islam as the means to achieving such an outcome. Current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used Hamas for decades to undermine moderate and leftist Palestinian political parties as well as any peace process, as he opposes a two-state solution.

Hamas is part of a larger response in the Islamic world to European imperialism. Since the medieval period and lasting until the early twentieth century, the Middle East and Northern Africa were ruled by politically, militarily, and economically Muslim empires. This began to change in the nineteenth and especially the early twentieth century, when European powers increasingly encroached upon and colonized these lands. This marked a major change for the region and the people inhabiting it. One response to Western imperialism was an inward-looking self-critique that maintained that the Muslim world was not as connected to Islam as it has been in past generations, and that if Muslims would only reconnect to Islam, there would be an opportunity to restore the power they once held in the region. A movement that was born from this belief is the Muslim Brotherhood. Established in 1928 by schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in Egypt, it is considered one of the world’s most impactful Islamist organizations.

The Palestinian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, working in Gaza to provide education, food, and social services to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, most of whom were refugees from the 1948 Nakba, is where the idea for Hamas ultimately emerged. The centering of Islam within its charter set Hamas apart from previous Palestinian factions that were largely leftist or centrist, as did the group’s unwillingness to compromise to achieve its vision. One of the most frequently cited sections of the 1988 charter can be found in Article Thirteen, which asserts that “[T]here is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

Importantly, by 1987, the people of Palestine had been living under occupation for twenty years, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was increasingly being viewed as ineffective and unable to deliver on a two-state solution. Palestinian frustration with the lack of progress made by the PLO is part of what made Hamas’s argument that fighting is more effective than compromise understandable if not acceptable to segments of the population.

Furthermore, Israel was actively funding Hamas in order to create a “counterweight” to secularist and left-of-center Palestinian political groups and to undermine the ongoing peace process. According to Mehdi Hassan, “[T]he Israelis helped turn a bunch of fringe Palestinian Islamists in the late 1970s into one of the world’s most notorious militant groups.”

In 1992, Hamas took an Israeli border policeman hostage, and ultimately killed him. This resulted in the expulsion of 415 Palestinians believed to be involved with the kidnapping. While these individuals were deported to southern Lebanon, they came into contact with Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based and Iran-funded resistance movement to Israeli occupation. It is believed that during this time, Hamas learned tactics such as suicide bombings. As those deported were incrementally being allowed back into Israel, due to the international outrage that the deportations had caused, the group began putting into practice some of what they had learned during their time in exile.

Following the massacre of 29 worshipers in a mosque during Ramadan by an American Jewish settler, Hamas experienced a turning point. It was at this point that it began carrying out attacks against civilians. On 19 October, 1994, a member of Hamas detonated an explosive on a bus in a busy street of Tel Aviv, killing 22 people. There would be six more suicide bombings in the span of several months in 1994 and 1995.

Significantly, this is when Hamas lost a lot of support from Palestinian civilians, with many questioning this methodology and its consequences. It is also the moment when Hamas changed its messaging to: “If you kill Palestinian civilians, your civilians will also die.” In other words, this is when it began to more closely resemble the Hamas we know today. Hamas claimed full control of Gaza in 2007 after winning Palestinian legislative elections and conducting a short military conflict with Fatah, a secularist Palestinian party that made up the largest faction within the multiparty PLO.

With a few exceptions, the terrorist attacks of 7 October were universally condemned by the international community. The world’s attention, however, swiftly changed when Israel began its retaliation against Palestinians.

Evidence of Genocide in Israel’s Response

Since 7 October, Israel has carried out a systematic campaign of mass killing against innocent Palestinian civilians, along with the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including housing, cultural and religious sites, and medical facilities. Its military operations have also led to disruptions in the supply of essential services, including water, electricity, and telecommunications. Additionally, the almost three-month siege that has been illegally imposed on the enclave, the effects of which are increased by persistent interruptions in the supply of humanitarian aid, only increases the suffering of the Palestinian population.

The Lemkin Institute believes that Israel’s retaliation against Palestinians amounts not only to war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also to genocide, as also asserted by, among others, the former Director of the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Craig Mokhiber.

The allegation of genocide is denied by Israel, its allies, and its supporters. Arguments often advanced by Israeli leaders and Israel’s allies include that the country is acting lawfully in its own self-defense. They argue that Israel is fighting an enemy akin to ISIS or the Third Reich, and therefore its use of collective punishment is justified. Additionally, they assert that Israel is attempting to limit civilian casualties by not completely annihilating Gazan civilians all at once. These arguments are then used in some combination to assert that Israel’s policies and actions against Palestinians do not meet the legal requirements contained in Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNGC), later reproduced in Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute).

According to the law, however, there can be no justification for genocide. Simply because one can argue that one has a reason for committing genocide does not make such commission legal, permissable, or moral. All perpetrators of genocide have strategic reasons for committing genocide, some based entirely on fabricated threats and others based on threats in the real world. The UNGC does not enumerate conditions under which genocide is permitted. Instead, it outlines the basic elements of the crime necessary for its prosecution under international law. According to the legal definition of the crime set out by the UNGC, genocide is a crime of intent. Article II defines genocide as “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” This means that the choice to destroy a group can be committed for different motives, including the goal of eliminating existing and potential threats.

The elements of what constitutes genocidal intent have been interpreted differently by scholars, jurists, and courts. As a genocide prevention organization, the Lemkin Institute does not seek to make an airtight legal case for genocide, but rather to identify genocidal elements in the current conflict for the purpose of contributing to a durable and sustainable peace in the future by recognizing the type of harm being inflicted on Palestinians, setting the stage for appropriate post-conflict accountability mechanisms, and ensuring that Palestinians receive genocide-sensitive humanitarian aid once their physical and security needs have been met and guaranteed.

What has stood out about Israel’s attack on Palestinians, particularly in Gaza but also in the West Bank since 7 October, is the clearly genocidal language being used at virtually all levels of Israeli society. This includes, among others, the use of genocidal language by high-ranking officials with command authority, members of Knesset (Israel’s legislative branch), opinion-forming journalists, and ordinary citizens.

On 9 October, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, also a member of Israel’s War Cabinet, declared while ordering the “complete siege” of Gaza: “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” The following day, Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Major General Ghassan Alian addressed the population of Gaza, stating: “Hamas has turned into ISIS, and the residents of Gaza, instead of being appalled, are celebrating. Human animals must be treated as such. There will be no electricity and no water [in Gaza], there will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”

The introduction of religious elements has also become a prominent feature in the speech of another high-ranking Israeli official. On 28 October, Prime Minister Netanyahu cited Deuteronomy in relation to the conflict in Palestine, stating: “You must remember what Amalek did to you.” In its lawsuit against US President Joseph Biden, and the Secretaries of State and Defense, Antony J. Blinken and Lloyd James Austin III, respectively, the Center for Constitutional Rights explained that: “In the Bible, God commands the extermination of Amalekite men, women, children, and animals, and this commandment has been described by one scholar as ‘divinely mandated genocide’.”

Several members of Knesset also used genocidal language against Palestinians on social media following Hamas’ terrorist attack.

On 7 October, Ariel Kallner called for a second Nakba that would “overshadow the Nakba of 1948.” The Nakba (“catastrophe” in English) refers to the genocide of Palestinians perpetrated during the creation of the State of Israel. Two days later, Revital Gotliv wrote: "Jericho missile! Jericho missile! Strategic alert, before we consider introducing our forces. A doomsday weapon! This is my opinion. May God preserve all our strength." Mrs. Gotliv is probably referring to the Jericho III, an Israeli-made ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The apocalyptic vision of the member of Knesset, shared by Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, was reiterated the following day when she wrote: "Only an explosion that shakes the Middle East will restore this country's dignity, strength, and security! It's time to kiss doomsday. Shooting powerful missiles without limit. Not flattening a neighborhood. Crushing and flattening Gaza. Otherwise, we would have done nothing. Not with passwords, with penetrating bombs. Without mercy! Without mercy!" Additionally, on 10 October, Retired Major General Giora Eiland wrote in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, "The State of Israel has no choice but to turn Gaza into a place that is temporarily or permanently impossible to live in." He added, "Creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a necessary means to achieving the goal." In another article, he wrote that "Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist."

Finally, genocidal rhetoric against Palestinians is not only being pushed by Israeli media, but also by Israeli society at large. On 7 October, journalist David Mizrachi Wertheim wrote on social media that: “And after I talked about unity, one principle that needs to be abandoned today: proportionality. Need a disproportionate response. May Israel see what she is hiding in the basement. If all the captives are not returned immediately, turn the strip into a slaughterhouse. If a hair falls from their head, execute security prisoners. Violate any norm, on the way to victory. [...] Those in front of us are human animals who do not hesitate to violate minimum rules, including the murder of medical staff and babies. [...].” Likewise, on 11 October, Roy Sharon wrote: "I spoke about a million corpses not as a goal, I said that if in order to finally eliminate the military capabilities of Hamas including Sinwar and Deif, we need a million bodies, then let there be a million bodies, otherwise we will not be able to get rid of it."

On 13 October, two signs appeared on Ayalon Street, the main and largest street in the city of Tel Aviv, which read: “victory picture: zero population in Gaza,” and “annihilation of Gaza.” Even more disturbingly, on 27 October, anonymous leaflets warned Palestinians in the West Bank that they should leave for Jordan or face another Nakba. IDF soldiers have posted themselves mocking and celebrating their destruction, such as in a shared video where a soldier announces his wedding date while counting down to pushing a button to bomb Gaza. Additionally, social media is awash in hate-speech against Palestinians, who are often conflated with Hamas. Hamas militants are likened to rats, Israeli bombings are celebrated, humiliated and undressed Palestinian men are mocked, Gazans lack of water is mocked, Israeli children are seen singing songs calling for the annihilation of Gazans, and the genocide itself is made fun of by accounts that are inebriated with genocidal euphoria.

When considering the impact of Israel’s retaliation, the sequence of events is notable: first, by ordering evacuations for Northern Gaza, followed by bombing infrastructure, hospitals, schools, etc., in that region. Subsequently, a similar pattern emerges in Central Gaza, ultimately pushing Palestinians into progressively smaller sections of Southern Gaza, where they also continue to be bombed. It is evident that this rhetoric has translated into action, rendering larger and larger areas in the Gaza Strip essentially unlivable for the Palestinian civilians. According to Israeli newspapers, at a Likud Party meeting on 26 December, Prime Minister Netanyahu told his supporters that he is looking for countries to “absorb” Palestinians from Gaza, suggesting that he plans to force the displacement of the entire population.

While the legal definition of genocide is necessary to determine the legal responsibility of any state that either perpetrated this crime or failed to prevent and/or punish its commission, as well as to determine the individual criminal responsibility of those who executed the acts enumerated in the aforementioned articles, we must not ignore that the legal definition only describes one stage of a much broader process – namely, the “destruction” of the protected group “as such.” In today’s jurisprudence, “destruction” is most often associated with the first act of genocide listed by the UNGC: “killing members of the group.” This limits our ability to identify genocidal processes to their end stage, when it is too late to prevent the crime.

However, there are four other acts of genocide enumerated in the UNGC, namely: “Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Furthermore, for the purposes of prevention, it is very important to recognize the broader sociological dimension of the genocidal process, which is essential to understanding the evolution of these processes of mass destruction through, among other means, the periodization of its different stages. If a genocidal process is not recognized by all parties interested in building a durable peace, the chances for peace are severely hampered, as genocidal violence requires recognition to be transformed into something just and productive. The work of addressing genocide takes generations. It is very hard, very necessary, and also, very rare.

Returning to the case at hand, Israel’s relentless attacks against Palestinians, carried out under the banner of the right to self-defense, have reached unprecedented levels of destruction, as reported in an article by the New York Times. At the time of publication, Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip has resulted in at least 21,320 Palestinian casualties, including at least 8,200 children – with one child killed every ten minutes on average before the ceasefire, as reported by HRW; and injuries to an additional 55,603, according to the latest estimates.

However, statistics alone fail to capture the immensity of such profound losses.

An article by the Associated Press described how entire generations of Palestinian families in Gaza – from great-grandparents to infants only weeks old – have been killed in airstrikes. This intergenerational massacre extends beyond the individual level, representing not only the actual loss of a human life, but also the complete erasure of a lineage, along with its history and contributions to their respective communities and, by extension, to the world.

Moreover, a disproportionate number of casualties in Gaza are children, prompting the UN Secretary-General to remark that it was becoming a “graveyard for children.” A growing number of children have not only been orphaned but also have lost their entire extended families. Additionally, given the lack of medical supplies, severely wounded children, as well as adults including pregnant women, must face surgeries, including amputations, burn treatment, and cesarean sections without anesthesia.

In this regard, the Lemkin Institute believes that the annihilation of approximately 1% of the total population of the Gaza Strip, which stands at 2.3 million people, including entire generations of Palestinians, and the infliction of “severe bodily” and “mental harm” upon the Palestinian population at large, which will result in the majority suffering life-changing injuries and psychological trauma, taken together with the persistent and pervasive genocidal rhetoric as manifested by Israeli officials, particularly within decision making circles, as well as by segments of Israeli society at large, against the Palestinian group “as such,” amounts to the commission of genocide, as outlined in Article II (a) and (b) of the UNGC and Article 6 (a) and (b) of the Rome Statute.

Israel’s military assault also has included the indiscriminate bombing of densely populated areas, even resorting to indiscriminate weapons such as white phosphorus, as reported by HRW. In addition, Israel is reported to have dropped more than 25,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, which is the equivalent of almost two Hiroshima bombs. Hundreds of these bombs have been 2,000 pound bombs not used in Western warfare since the Vietnam war, according to an analysis by CNN and the artificial intelligence agency Synthetic. According to a US intelligence analysis, “nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since 7 October have been unguided, otherwise known as ‘dumb bombs’.” The use of such heavy munitions and “dumb bombs'' in such a densely populated region belies the often heard Israeli talking point that its military is doing all it can to avoid civilian casualties.

Throughout the conflict, Israel’s military has systematically targeted, among other places, refugee camps, hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, and churches – all considered protected places under international humanitarian law. Israel has also deliberately destroyed Gazan cemeteries, a crime very closely associated with genocidal intent because of its erasure of a people’s ancestors and therefore of their historical presence, and has razed an estimated 22 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land.

As we noted in our Statement on the Biden Administration’s Complicity in Genocide in Gaza, released on 20 December 2023, “[O]n December 16, doctors and other witnesses in Gaza reported watching in horror as the Israeli military bulldozed tents outside the Kamal Adwan Hospital, crushing the injured people inside the tents and burying them alive. The Israeli army is also accused of causing the death of five babies in the intensive care unit at Al Nasr Hospital after forcing the parents and hospital staff to leave. Witnesses have also reported that Israeli soldiers shot displaced people at point-blank range at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in the northern al-Faluja area. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem reported that two women, a mother and her daughter, were shot by Israeli snipers over the December 16 weekend as they walked in the grounds of Gaza’s Holy Family Church. Just this week the United Nations received disturbing reports that Israeli soldiers separated men from women during a raid on a building in Gaza City, killed at least eleven of the men in front of their family members, and herded the women and children into a room where they were fired upon and targeted with a grenade.” According to a recently released testimony, the IDF has also been carrying out field executions against people over the age of 60 in the Gaza Strip, including both the shooting of individuals immediately after they have been ordered to evacuate their homes and shootings following hours or days of arbitrary detention.

The state’s response against Hamas has also resulted in the death of essential professionals, including healthcare workers, UN personnel, and journalists. Regarding the latter, Israel has killed at least 90 journalists since 7 October. Reporters Without Borders issued a statement on 22 November, noting that: “[…] journalism is in the process of being eradicated in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s refusal to heed calls to protect media personnel.” Furthermore, the Committee to Protect Journalists has accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists and their families in Gaza.

On top of Israel’s active strategies in fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip, its prolonged siege on the enclave since 9 October, which constitutes a breach of the international humanitarian law prohibition against collective punishment, has not only resulted in a humanitarian crisis but has also exacerbated the living conditions of 1.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip.

As Israel’s relentless bombardment turns the enclave into an “uninhabitable moonscape,” as described in an article by the Associated Press, and Palestinian IDPs are unwillingly funneled into overcrowded refugee camps, these people are now facing an even more insidious threat: disease. “As more and more people move to a smaller and smaller area, overcrowding, combined with the lack of adequate food, water, shelter and sanitation, are creating the ideal conditions for disease to spread,” warned the Director-General of the World Health Organization. “Gaza’s health system is on its knees and collapsing,” he added.

The warning of the Director-General resonates with those of other UN officials, including the Secretary-General. During a meeting of the UN Security Council, he explained: “We are at a breaking point. There is a high risk of a total collapse of the humanitarian system.” On social media, the Director of UNRWA Affairs wrote: “Civil order is breaking down in [Gaza] – the streets feel wild, particularly after dark – some aid convoys are being looted and UN vehicles stoned. Society is on the brink of full-blown collapse. [...]”

In this regard, the Lemkin Institute believes that Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip, coupled with its impact on the civilian population and the genocidal language displayed by Israeli officials and society at large, constitutes a deliberate attempt to subject the group to “conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” in the language of the UNGC and the Rome Statute. In light of Israel’s ongoing killing of Palestinians, which, as we have explained, amounts to genocide in accordance with subarticles (b) and (c) of the Genocide Convention, this strategy may involve a deliberate attempt to concentrate, isolate, and, through the scarcity of essential goods and services, as well as the ensuing outbreak of communicable diseases, systematically weaken the civilian population of the enclave with the purpose of facilitating its annihilation or expulsion.

Admittedly, on 8 December, the UN Secretary-General not only conveyed to the UN Security Council the “high risk of a total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza,” but also explained that the UN anticipated “that this will result in the complete breakdown of public order and increase pressure for mass displacement into Egypt.” His concerns about the potential mass exodus of Gazans into Egypt are not only based on an analysis of the situation on the ground, as noted by UN Dispatch, but also align with Israel’s “concept paper,” which proposed relocating the entire population of Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. According to an article by the New York Times, however, Israel has quietly pushed to turn this hypothetical exercise into reality. As mentioned before, Prime Minister Netanyahu recently conveyed to his supporters that he is looking for countries to “absorb” Palestinians from Gaza, confirming that his intention to forcibly displace the entire population of the enclave is far from being an academic abstraction.

Regarding the potential expulsion of the Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, the Lemkin Institute recalls Raphaël Lemkin’s understanding of genocide as a process that has two phases: “one, destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group; the other, the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. This imposition, in turn, may be made upon the oppressed population which is allowed to remain or upon the territory alone, after removal of the population and the colonization of the area by the oppressor’s own nationals.”

Conclusion

There is no excuse for genocide, so there can be no genocide without consequences. Humanity must learn to draw the line at this crime at the very least.

The Lemkin Institute thus exhorts the international community to immediately withdraw support for Israel, especially military support. Israel is a genocidal state that must be brought back into the framework of the rule of law. Israel’s allies, and particularly the United States, must call for a permanent ceasefire and force Israel to end its genocidal campaign immediately, which, apart from causing unconscionable and irremediable harm to Palestinian life, is jeopardizing the security of Jewish people all over the world. All attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, the West Bank, or East Jerusalem, should be forcefully opposed. The continued complicity in genocide of Israel’s allies is resulting in horrific, immoral consequences for Palestians everywhere and is destroying any opportunities for global peace and security for the forseeable future.

The United Nations must continue its investigation into Hamas’ 7 October attack, giving special consideration to the allegations of GBSV. Additionally, the Lemkin Institute urges the community of states to push for an inquiry into the complicity of some of its members concerning the illegal actions of either Hamas or Israel. Finally, it requests the international community to use its influence to allow the unrestricted access of humanitarian aid, including culturally sensitive medical assistance, into the Gaza Strip for both injured civilians and those in need of psychosocial support.