Dolus Specialis: Proof of Israel’s Genocidal Intent in Gaza
Israeli Leaders Announced Their Aim to Destroy Gaza, and Then Carried It Out
We have compiled statements from more than 15 senior Israeli officials — spanning the prime minister, the president, cabinet ministers, Knesset members, and military leaders — whose words collectively establish genocidal intent. This piece is part of a series: Gaza and the Scholars of Genocide reviews the judgments of leading genocide experts who have concluded that Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza, while The Case for Genocide in Gaza briefly examines the evidence of genocide.
The Legal Standard
The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as acts committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Acts include:
Killing members of the group
Causing serious bodily or mental harm
Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction
Preventing births within the group
Forcibly transferring children of the group
The decisive element is intent — dolus specialis. Without it, mass atrocities may be war crimes or crimes against humanity. With it, they are genocide.
Direct Evidence of Intent: Israeli Officials’ Statements
Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have supplied direct evidence of genocidal intent:
Yoav Gallant (Defense Minister): “Complete siege. No electricity. No food. No water. No fuel. We are fighting human animals.”
Isaac Herzog (President): “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible.”
Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister): repeatedly invoked “Amalek,” the biblical enemy marked for extermination.
Avi Dichter (Minister of Agriculture): “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba 2023. That’s how it’ll end.”
Amichai Eliyahu (Heritage Minister): floated nuclear strikes as “one of the options” and said Israel must make Palestinians’ deaths “more painful than death.”
Ariel Kallner (Likud MK): “Right now, one goal: Nakba. A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 1948.”
Tally Gotliv (Likud MK): urged using “doomsday” Jericho nuclear missiles; called for subjecting Gaza to “thirst and hunger.”
May Golan (Minister for Social Equality): “I am personally proud of the ruins of Gaza.”
Nissim Vaturi (Deputy Knesset Speaker): “Wipe Gaza off the face of the earth. Gaza must be burned.”
Galit Distel-Atbaryan (Minister of Public Diplomacy): “Erase Gaza from the face of the earth. Let them die badly.”
Bezalel Smotrich (Finance Minister): said starving Gazans to death “may be moral” and later promised Gaza would be “entirely destroyed.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir (National Security Minister): called for “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians and resettlement of Gaza by Israelis.
Shlomo Karhi (Communications Minister): backed deportation and Jewish resettlement of Gaza.
Miri Regev (Transport Minister): said Gaza must be resettled by Jews, even if occupation is required.
Giora Eiland (former National Security Council head): Gaza should “become a place where no human being can exist.”
Tzipi Hotovely (Ambassador to the UK): when pressed if she supported Gaza’s destruction, replied: “Do you have another solution?”
These are not stray remarks but a chorus of eliminationist rhetoric, sustained across ministries, political factions, and months of war.
Implied Intent: Making Life Impossible
Intent can also be inferred when destruction is carried out in ways that render life unsustainable:
Starvation: the October 2023 siege cut off food, water, and fuel, creating famine conditions documented by UN famine monitors.
Water and Electricity: Gaza’s infrastructure was deliberately shut down, depriving civilians of clean water, sanitation, and power.
Hospitals and Medicine: repeated strikes on medical facilities; incubators and dialysis machines without power; amputations performed without anesthesia.
Educational Institutions: universities and schools destroyed, extinguishing the prospects of an entire generation.
Mass Killings: by August 2025, more than 63,000 Palestinians killed, with refugee camps, hospitals, and aid convoys struck even when coordinates were given.
These actions amount to what the Convention calls “inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the group.”
Persistence Despite Court Warnings
The International Court of Justice ordered Israel three times in 2024 (January, March, May) to prevent genocide and enable humanitarian aid. Instead, siege tactics and bombardments intensified. Continuation in the face of binding legal orders is further proof of intent.
Conclusion
Intent is the legal fulcrum. Israel’s leaders have made it explicit — burn Gaza, erase Gaza, starve Gaza, deport Gazans, make death “more painful.” Combined with famine, destroyed hospitals, mass killings, and the collapse of life-supporting infrastructure, the only reasonable inference is genocide.
Sources & Method
All quotes and figures are drawn from Israeli officials’ public remarks (press conferences, Knesset speeches, media interviews, and social media posts) and corroborated in international human rights reports (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, UN agencies). Statements like Gallant’s siege order, Herzog’s “entire nation” comment, Netanyahu’s “Amalek” invocation, and Dichter’s “Gaza Nakba 2023” were widely covered in Israeli and international media. Others, like Golan’s “proud of the ruins” or Gotliv’s nuclear threats, were delivered in Knesset debate or on Israeli TV and documented by NGOs monitoring incitement.
The above record is drawn from:
Statements by Israeli officials reported in international and Israeli media:
Gallant’s “complete siege” order and “human animals” remark (BBC)
Herzog’s “entire nation” responsible (The Guardian)
Netanyahu’s repeated invocation of “Amalek” (Haaretz)
Dichter’s “Gaza Nakba 2023” (Times of Israel)
Eliyahu’s nuclear option and “more painful than death” (Al Jazeera)
Kallner’s “Nakba to overshadow 1948” (Jerusalem Post)
Gotliv’s nuclear strike remarks (Haaretz)
Golan’s “proud of the ruins” (Middle East Eye)
Vaturi’s “burn Gaza” (Jerusalem Post)
Distel-Atbaryan’s “erase Gaza” (El País)
Smotrich’s “starvation may be moral” (Haaretz)
Ben-Gvir’s “voluntary emigration” (Times of Israel)
Karhi, Regev, Eiland, and Hotovely remarks (BBC, Al Jazeera, Haaretz, Times of Israel).
Human rights reporting:
Human Rights Watch: “Extermination and Acts of Genocide” report (Dec 2024)
Amnesty International: “Two Months of Siege, Evidence of Genocidal Intent” (May 2025)
UN famine monitors (IPC) documenting acute malnutrition in Gaza (July 2025)
International recognition:
International Court of Justice provisional measures orders (Jan, Mar, May 2024).
International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) resolution, Sept 2025, declaring Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the Genocide Convention definition (Reuters.