For most of the past year, human rights watchdogs have characterized Israel's deeds in Gaza as collective punishment, war crimes, violations of human rights, but not necessarily "genocide" — defined as intentionally destroying a people as a whole, and that carries more weight than perhaps any other crime. Now, a 179-page Human Rights Watch report is accusing Israel of doing just that, echoing a recent Amnesty International report in explicitly describing the Israeli campaign as a genocide against Palestinians.
While the report detailed a litany of alleged offenses that would qualify as acts of genocide, including the mass killing of 45,000 civilians with weapons of war, HRW singled out the cutting off of water to Gaza. That action, the report said, was further evidence that "Israeli authorities have deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the population in Gaza" and caused "thousands of deaths."
The report found that, throughout the invasion, Israeli forces had restricted the flow of piped water, intentionally destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure and blocked attempts by aid groups to transport water into Gaza. In doing so, the report continued, Israel was directly responsible for the rampant illnesses and deaths linked to water-borne disease, dehydration and starvation — a catastrophe made even worse by Israel's concurrent destruction of hospitals and killing of doctors and medical staff.
“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," HRW Executive Director Tirana Hassan said in a statement.
To aid in its investigation, HRW researchers analyzed satellite imagery, photographs, videos and reams of data captured since October 2023, while interviewing more than 100 water utility officials, medical professionals, international aid workers and Palestinian civilians. The group also compiled statements by Israeli officials, including calls to exterminate Palestinians and "erase" Gaza, as proof of genocidal intent.
The current genocide, HRW said, was not a sudden act of malice but "part of the continuing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution that Israeli authorities have been committing against Palestinians" in both Gaza and the West Bank.
President Joe Biden considered issuing sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers for encouraging violence in the West Bank, but ultimately decided against it this week. His administration also continues to send billions of dollars' worth of weapons to Israel, despite calls by HRW and other groups for governments to "end their risk of complicity in atrocity crimes in Gaza and take immediate action to protect civilians with an arms embargo, targeted sanctions, and support for justice."
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