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.” The 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 to another group
The decisive element is intent — dolus specialis. Intent can be proven through direct statements or inferred from conduct, scale, and patterns.
Evidence of Genocidal Acts
Killing members of the group: More than 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza had been killed by August 2025, according to figures used by the United Nations system¹. Hospitals, including Nasser Hospital, were struck multiple times, killing patients and rescuers².
Serious bodily and mental harm: The World Health Organization and UNFPA documented a collapsed health system. Pregnant women without anesthesia. Children undergoing amputations without painkillers. Psychological trauma on a mass scale³.
Inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group: On October 9, 2023, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege” of Gaza: “no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel… we are fighting human animals”⁴. Human Rights Watch later confirmed that Israel was using starvation as a method of warfare⁵. UN-backed famine monitors recorded global acute malnutrition beyond famine thresholds in Gaza by mid-2025⁶.
Attacks on aid and deliberate obstruction: In April 2024, Israeli strikes killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers traveling in deconflicted vehicles. Hundreds of aid workers have been killed since October 2023. This pattern has crippled relief capacity⁷.
Preventing births within the group: UNFPA reports catastrophic outcomes for childbirth. Malnourished mothers. Newborns dying for lack of incubators and oxygen. Conditions foreseeably reducing births and infant survival⁸.
Evidence of Intent: Direct statements
Defense Minister Gallant: “We are fighting human animals. No food. No water. No fuel”⁴.
Prime Minister Netanyahu invoked “Amalek,” the biblical enemy marked for extermination⁹.
President Herzog: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible”¹⁰.
Minister Avi Dichter declared on television: “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba 2023. That’s how it’ll end”¹¹.
Extreme measures: Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu suggested that a nuclear strike on Gaza was “one of the options”¹².
Persistence after warnings: The International Court of Justice ordered Israel in January, March, and May 2024 to prevent genocide and enable humanitarian aid. Instead, siege tactics and mass bombardments continued¹³.
Conclusion: Dolus Specialis as the Only Inference
When senior officials order a siege with no food, no water, and no fuel; when hospitals and aid convoys are systematically struck; when famine metrics are reached and courts issue binding warnings ignored; when leaders call civilians “human animals” and invoke Amalek — intent cannot be dismissed as ambiguous.
The combination of mass killing, crippling injuries, life-destroying conditions, explicit dehumanization, and continuation after repeated ICJ warnings makes genocide the only reasonable inference.
This is not an appeal to authority. It is an appeal to evidence: the state’s own words, the courts’ own orders, and the bodies of Gaza.
Footnotes
UN OCHA situation updates, Aug 2025 (civilian casualty figures).
UN and media reports on repeated strikes on Nasser Hospital, Aug 2025.
WHO and UNFPA emergency health reports, 2024–2025.
Statement by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Oct 9, 2023 (complete siege order).
Human Rights Watch report, Dec 2023, “Starvation as a Method of Warfare.”
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, July 2025.
Documentation of April 1, 2024 strikes on World Central Kitchen convoy; OCHA reporting on aid worker casualties.
UNFPA maternal health updates, 2024–2025.
Remarks by Prime Minister Netanyahu invoking “Amalek,” 2023–2024.
President Isaac Herzog public remarks attributing collective responsibility to “an entire nation,” Oct 2023.
Statement by Minister Avi Dichter, televised interview, Nov 2023 (“Gaza Nakba 2023”).
Statement by Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu suggesting nuclear strike, Nov 2023.
International Court of Justice Orders on provisional measures, Jan 26, Mar 28, and May 24, 2024.