B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have concluded that Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip meets the criteria for genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Two Israeli human rights organizations published reports on Monday, concluding that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Both organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI), have now called on the international community to take immediate action to “stop the genocide, using all legal tools available under international law.”
As Israelis and Palestinians who live here and are exposed on a daily basis to testimonies and lived realities, it is our duty to speak the truth and say in the clearest way: Israel is committing genocide – this is our genocide.
We believe that it is our duty to speak truth from… pic.twitter.com/mfBRu9WGCP
— B’Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) July 28, 2025
In its report, B’Tselem said, “An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.
“In other words: Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
The report presents statistics, personal testimonies and documentation that “paint a grim picture of a deliberate Israeli policy” to destroy Palestinian society in Gaza, alongside widespread incitement to genocide by political and military leaders and in Israeli public discourse, B’Tselem said in a statement.
Replicated in West Bank
The organization warned that Israel “is already replicating its patterns of destruction and annihilation, currently being implemented in Gaza, in the West Bank as well – albeit on a smaller scale – and that there is a real risk the genocide will spread beyond the Gaza Strip.”
“Nothing prepares you for the realization that you are part of a society committing genocide. This is a deeply painful moment for us,” said B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak. “But as Israelis and Palestinians who live here and witness the reality every day, we have a duty to speak the truth as clearly as possible: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.”
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
It sounds inconceivable. But it’s the truth.
Israel is taking deliberate, coordinated action to destroy the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Explicit statements by Israeli officials, combined with a consistent policy of destructive attacks… pic.twitter.com/tzFmTSfUEX
— B’Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) July 28, 2025
Referencing the Palestinian Resistance operation of October 7, 2023, Novak noted that the “extremist, far-right messianic government is using that fear to promote an agenda of destruction and expulsion.”
He said the lives of all Palestinians, “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, are being treated as worthless. They can be starved, killed, displaced – and the situation keeps getting worse. The world must stop the crimes Israel is committing now.”
‘Bodily and Mental Harm’
B’Tselem’s 88-page report covers Israel’s “Killing and causing serious bodily and mental harm” in Gaza, listing airstrikes and population displacement, open-fire regulations and kill zones, wounded persons and lack of medical treatment, indirect deaths and psychological trauma.
In the West Bank, it lists “airstrikes, open-fire policy, Jewish militias in the West Bank,” and “severe psychological distress.”
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The report also covers “Destruction of living conditions” in Gaza, listing “starvation and destruction of food infrastructure, use of starvation as a method of warfare, routine killings at aid distribution centers.”
It also covers Israel’s destruction of electricity and water infrastructure, assault on the healthcare system, domicide (destruction of housing) and economic destruction.
The report also looks into social, political and cultural destruction in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as “the prison system as a network of torture camps,” “assault on the Palestinian refugee status” and “incitement to genocide and dehumanization since October 2023.”
PHRI Report
The PHRI report offers a detailed legal-medical analysis of Israel’s ongoing military assault in Gaza since October 2023, concluding that the onslaught meets the criteria for genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to which Israel is a signatory, according to a press statement.
Israel’s operation “constitutes genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention,” the 65-page report stated.
On October 13, 2023, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of 22 hospitals in #Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip. That day marked the start of an unprecedented assault on Gaza’s health system.
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Over the following 22 months, Israel systematically targeted Gaza’s… pic.twitter.com/wvOx1FTwUW— Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) (@PHRIsrael) July 28, 2025
“The evidence shows a deliberate and systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health and life-sustaining systems – through targeted attacks on hospitals, obstruction of medical aid and evacuations, and the killing and detention of healthcare personnel,” it added.
‘Calculated, Systematic’ Destruction
Over a 22-month period, Israel’s actions “have destroyed Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure in a manner that is both calculated and systematic,” the report stated.
It pointed out that the chronology of attacks “reveals a deliberate progression: beginning with the bombing and forced evacuation of hospitals in northern Gaza, the health system’s collapse extended southward as displaced populations overwhelmed remaining facilities, which were then subjected to further bombardment, siege, and resource deprivation.”
Gaza’s health system “has been systematically dismantled – its hospitals rendered non-functional, medical evacuations blocked, and essential services like trauma care, surgery, dialysis, and maternal health eliminated.”
Killing of Healthcare Workers
The killing and detention of over 1,800 healthcare workers, including many senior specialists, “has decimated Gaza’s medical capacity and rendered recovery nearly impossible,” the report added.
Humanitarian relief, it noted, “has been deliberately restricted, forcing civilians to approach militarized distribution points that have often become sites of mass killings.
Last week, an Israeli airstrike targeted the home of Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, killing him along with several members of his family – his wife, daughter, son-in-law, sister, and niece. According to reports, their bodies arrived at the hospital completely crushed. Seventeen others… pic.twitter.com/Job9lwJ6tV
— Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) (@PHRIsrael) July 7, 2025
“This coordinated assault has produced a cascading failure of health and humanitarian infrastructure, compounded by policies leading to starvation, disease, and the breakdown of sanitation, housing, and education systems,” the PHRI stated.
‘Obligated to Speak Truth’
“Israel is knowingly destroying Gaza’s health system,” said Dr. Guy Shalev, Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. “As people who believe in the sanctity of life, we are obligated to speak the truth: this is genocide, and we must fight it.”
Shaleve stressed that for 22 months, “hospital after hospital has been attacked, patients have been denied life-saving treatment, and aid has been blocked. This is a clear and consistent pattern of destruction.”
“We came to the legal conclusion that this is genocide”.
Dr. Guy Shalev, Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, is part of the group that published two reports concluding that Israel’s attack on Gaza’s health systems amounts to genocide.
Israel denies… pic.twitter.com/APnEFtZWBu
— Yalda Hakim (@SkyYaldaHakim) July 28, 2025
He emphasized, “It is our duty as medical professionals, and to our colleagues in Gaza who are risking their lives to save others under impossible conditions, to face the truth and do everything we can to protect them.”
The report also noted that Gaza residents who have been detained and held in Israeli facilities “report systematic torture, medical neglect, and degrading treatment, contributing to both physical and psychological harm.”
Effect on Children, Women
Children face psychological trauma, while women endure sharp increases in miscarriages, preterm births, and maternal mortality amid famine and lack of reproductive healthcare services, it stated.
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PHRI “concludes that these acts are not incidental to war, but rather part of a deliberate policy targeting Palestinians as a group.”
“They fulfill at least three core acts defined in Article II of the Genocide Convention: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; and (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its destruction in whole or in part,” the report stated.
It said that despite international legal rulings, “Israel has not complied with its obligations, and global enforcement remains weak.”
Call to World Bodies
PHRI urged international bodies and states “to fulfill their duty under Article I of the Genocide Convention to stop the Gaza genocide.”
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The organization also called on the global health and humanitarian communities to act, “as the destruction of Gaza’s health system is not only a legal violation but a humanitarian catastrophe demanding urgent global solidarity and response.”
Haaretz reported on Monday that “This marks the first time that Israeli human rights groups have officially determined that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”
According to the latest figures by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Monday, 59,921 Palestinians have been killed and 145,233 injured since Israel’s military operation began in the enclave in October 2023.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
this moment feels like a rupture in narrative—where the internal critique from within Israeli society reframes the global discourse.