“Israel commits Palestinian Genocide” say Jewish NGO’s
erusalem, Jul 28 (EFE).-
The Israeli nonprofits B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) accused the Israeli government on Monday of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the first time that local NGOs have called out the Israeli offensive against the Palestinian enclave.
PHRI’s Daphna Shochat, addressing a press conference in Jerusalem while presenting a report by the group analyzing the medical situation in the enclave, underlined that it was especially important at this moment to call things by their name.
B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said they were left with no choice but to recognize the truth that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Novak described Israeli society as capable of erasing humanity from the people and losing all their empathy and moral obligations through a long process of dehumanizing the Palestinians.
In addition to the PHRI report, which analyzed the effects of the Israeli offensive and concluded that it met the legal requirements to be considered a genocide under the Geneva Convention, B’Tselem published its own report documenting statements by politicians and senior military officials calling for the destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza.
In addition, the organization, focused on denouncing the occupation of Palestinian territories and the effects of Israeli policies on their residents, warned that Israel was replicating much of the tactics from the Gaza Strip in the occupied West Bank, although on a smaller scale.
The group said there was a risk that the genocide could spread to the entire Palestinian population.
International NGOs, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have already denounced that Israel was committing genocide or “genocidal acts” in Gaza, while South Africa accused the country in December 2023 of committing genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
At the press conference, the nonprofits said that the Israeli leaders were primarily responsible for what has been happening, and also blamed the international community for not doing enough to stop the war.
Nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands more wounded during the Israeli offensive on Gaza – which followed Hamas attacks inside Israel on Oct.7, 2023 -, according to the Gazan Ministry of Health. EFE jdg/sc
