Genocide In Gaza: What the Experts Are Saying
A comprehensive look at if the opinions on Genocide in Gaza, from NGOs, Israeli rights groups, and genocide scholars
The conversation over whether Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide has escalated rapidly in recent months. Independent UN bodies, leading NGOs, Israeli human rights groups, and genocide scholars across the globe have weighed in. The debate is no longer confined to activist spaces or political circles but sits firmly within the academic and legal frameworks that define genocide.
The International Court of Justice has ruled that South Africa’s case against Israel is plausible, and the UN Commission of Inquiry has now confirmed it as genocide. Yet the strongest voices shaping this debate are not governments but those whose work has long centered on atrocity crimes, from the Lemkin Institute and Genocide Watch to Israeli genocide scholars such as Raz Segal and Amos Goldberg. Their assessments have been joined by international legal experts and hundreds of scholars worldwide.
This piece brings together those voices. From NGOs to Holocaust historians, from Israeli rights groups to Western universities, and from those who say the evidence is overwhelming to those who remain cautious about proving intent, the following is a comprehensive record of what the experts are saying about Gaza and genocide.
Amnesty International: “Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The killings, serious harm, and destruction of life-sustaining systems show intent to destroy the group in part.”
Human Rights Watch: “Israeli authorities are responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination. The evidence also points to acts of genocide, as shown in both conduct and statements of intent.”
Physicians for Human Rights–Israel: “The assault on Gaza constitutes genocide. The collapse of the health system and deliberate creation of conditions of life calculated to destroy the population are undeniable.”
B’Tselem (Israel): “Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. This is a genocidal regime and its policies amount to genocidal acts.”
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR): “There is a legally sound argument that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The evidence supports application of the 1948 Genocide Convention.”
Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention: “We issue a Genocide Emergency for Gaza. The warning signs of genocide are present in full.”
Genocide Watch: “Palestinians in Gaza are under genocidal threat. Israel’s actions align with multiple stages of genocide.”
Forensic Architecture: “We see the architecture of genocidal starvation and displacement. The systematic destruction constitutes a cartography of genocide.”
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN): “The evidence meets the genocide threshold. The obligations of states under the Genocide Convention are triggered.”
International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS): “Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under the Genocide Convention.”
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR): “Israel’s conduct in Gaza violates the Genocide Convention. There is a case of genocide and complicity for states that enable it.”
University Network for Human Rights with partner clinics: “After applying Convention standards, we conclude Israel is committing genocide.”
Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network (GHSCN): “Hundreds of scholars confirm the violence in Gaza is genocidal. The international community cannot remain silent.”
Raz Segal (Israeli scholar): “This is a textbook case of genocide. Every element under the Convention is met.”
Amos Goldberg (Hebrew Univ.): “Yes, it is genocide. The killings, the conditions of life imposed, and the explicit rhetoric demonstrate intent.”
Daniel Blatman (Hebrew Univ.): “It is genocide. Together with Goldberg, I argue that Gaza’s destruction is deliberate and genocidal.”
Omer Bartov (Brown Univ., Israeli-born): “Genocide is the only term that fits. The systematic destruction leaves no room for another classification.”
Ilan Pappé (Israeli historian): “This is genocide. The project of Gaza’s destruction has been consistent and deliberate.”
William Schabas (leading genocide law scholar): “There is a strong case that what is happening in Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide.”
Martin Shaw (UK genocide theorist): “The Gaza campaign fits the genocidal framework. The IAGS resolution affirms this consensus.”
Ernesto Verdeja (Notre Dame): “The Gaza genocide must be understood in its multiple crises. It meets the definitional criteria.”
Dirk Moses (genocide studies, Sydney): “Gaza illustrates the very debates we have in genocide studies. The evidence supports the claim of genocide.”
International Network of Genocide Scholars (INoGS): “The government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide”
TWAILR scholars’: “More than 800 scholars and practitioners warned of a risk of genocide in Gaza.”
Scholars in Holocaust and Genocide Studies: “Over 55 scholars state mass killing, starvation, and displacement raise the question of genocide.”
University Network for Human Rights with BU, Cornell, Pretoria, and Yale: “Comprehensive legal analysis concludes Israel is committing genocide.”
Zoryan Institute: “We support the IAGS resolution. Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the Convention’s definition of genocide.”
UN Human Rights Office: “Israeli authorities have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group, including by imposing measures intended to prevent births; and deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians as a group, both of which are underlying acts of genocide in the Rome Statute and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”
Francesca Albanese (UN Special Rapporteur on the OPT): “Israel’s conduct in Gaza constitutes genocide. The Anatomy of a Genocide report details the acts and intent.”
Michael Fakhri (UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food): “Israel is committing genocide by engineered starvation of Gaza’s population.”
Balakrishnan Rajagopal (UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing): “Mass destruction and domicide in Gaza risk acts of genocide.”
Joint UN experts statement (Nov 2023): “Gaza is at risk of genocide. The world must act to prevent it.”
UN Commission of Inquiry (2025): “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The finding is clear.”
Not all scholars are in full agreement. Israeli international-law scholars Amichai Cohen and Yuval Shany argue that the evidence does not conclusively prove genocidal intent, cautioning against stretching the legal definition. Their critiques focus on methodology, particularly the interpretation of intent. In response, other scholars, such as Adil Ahmad Haque, counter that the statements of Israeli leaders and the scale of destruction satisfy the requirement of intent. Policy groups outside the genocide-studies field have echoed the caution, but their interventions are widely seen as political rather than scholarly.
The overwhelming trend is clear. Most genocide prevention bodies, leading NGOs, Israeli human rights organizations, and the majority of genocide scholars have concluded that Israel’s assault on Gaza meets the definition of genocide. A small but notable group cautions against making that finding definitive without courtroom-level proof of intent. What is left is not silence but a comprehensive, evidence-driven record that the international community can no longer ignore.