The world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president has said.
86% of those who voted among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars backed the resolution declaring Israel's "policies and actions in Gaza" had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 UN convention on genocide.
Israel's Foreign Ministry called the statement disgraceful and "entirely based on Hamas' campaign of lies".
Israel has in the past strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and says they are justified as self defence. It is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that accuses it of genocide.
The three-page resolution calls on Israel to "immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza, including deliberate attacks against and killing of civilians including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population".
It also states that the Hamas attack on Israel which precipitated the war constituted international crimes.
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"This is a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide," the association's president, Melanie O'Brien, a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia who specialises in genocide, said.
"There is no justification for the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, not even self defence," she added.
The 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany, defines genocide as crimes committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such". It requires all countries to act to prevent and stop genocide.
Since the genocide scholars' association was founded in 1994, it has passed nine resolutions recognising historic or ongoing episodes as genocides.
Israeli attacks kill 98, tanks push deeper into Gaza City
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks have killed at least 98 people in the past 24 hours as Israel pushed tanks deeper into Gaza City and detonated explosives-laden vehicles in one suburb, Palestinian officials and witnesses have said.
It added that nine more people, including three children, have died of malnutrition and starvation over the past day, raising deaths from such causes to at least 348, including 127 children.
Israel is pushing ahead with a plan to take full control of the whole of Gaza, starting with Gaza City.
Residents said Israeli forces sent old armoured vehicles into the eastern parts of the overcrowded Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, then blew them up remotely, destroying several houses and forcing more families to flee.
In leaflets dropped over Gaza City, Israel's military told residents to head south immediately, saying the army intended to expand its offensive westward.
"People are confused, stay and die, or leave towards nowhere," Sheikh Radwan resident Mohammad Abu Abdallah said.
"It was a night of horror, explosions never stopped, and the drones never stopped hovering over the area. Many people quit their homes fearing for their lives, while others have no idea where to go," the 55-year-old said over a chat app.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet late yesterday to discuss a new offensive to seize Gaza City, which he has described as the bastion of Hamas.
Israel's military has warned its political leaders that the planned Gaza City offensive could endanger hostages still being held by Hamas.
Protests in Israel calling for an end to the war and the release of the hostages have intensified in past weeks.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 63,000 people in Gaza since October 2023, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, while Israel has plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis and left much of it in ruins.
Global hunger monitor IPC determined this month that an entirely man-made famine is currently taking place in Gaza, while UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the famine was the direct result of Israeli government policies.
The current stage of the war began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Twenty of the remaining 48 hostages are believed to still be alive.
Ceasefire talks ended in July in deadlock and efforts to revive them have so far failed.
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