The world’s leading genocide scholars’ association has backed a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime.
Out of the International Association of Genocide Scholars’s (IAGS) 500 members, 28% took part in the vote. Of those who voted, 86% supported the resolution. The resolution states 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 three-page resolution passed by the body 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.”
The resolution said the IAGS recognised that “since the horrific Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes”, the government of Israel had engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, homes and commercial buildings, of Gaza.
Melanie O’Brien, the IAGS president and a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, said the resolution was “a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide”.
Founded in 1994, the IAGS has a broad membership that includes academics, historians, political scientists and human rights activists. It has adopted previous resolutions identifying genocide, including historical cases such as the Armenian genocide.
The 1948 UN convention, drafted in the aftermath of the Holocaust, defines genocide as acts committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. It obliges signatory states to act to prevent and stop such crimes, which may include killing members of a group, inflicting serious harm, imposing destructive living conditions, preventing births or transferring children by force.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli foreign ministry.
Israel is fighting allegations at the world’s top court, the international court of justice, of committing genocide in Gaza. Separately, the international criminal court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. It also issued an arrest warrant for the Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, but withdrew it after he was killed.
At least 31 people were killed on Monday, more than half of them women and children, as Israel launched strikes across the Gaza Strip, according to health officials.
Reuters contributed to this report
