Human Rights Watch accused Israel of “acts of genocide”
Human Rights Watch has become the second major human rights organisation to describe Israeli acts with the word genocide, following a report from Amnesty earlier this month.
The report, published on December 19th, says Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination, according to Reuters.
“This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to an ‘act of genocide’ under the Genocide Convention of 1948,” Human Rights Watch said in its report.
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The report said the Israeli government stopped water being piped into Gaza, cut off electricity and restricted fuel. This meant Gaza’s own water and sanitation facilities could not be used, so Palestinians in Gaza had access to only a few litres of water a day in many areas, far below the 15-liter-threshold for survival.
The group noted that despite establishing the denial of water as an act of genocide, it would also have to establish intent. It went on to cite statements by some senior Israeli officials suggesting they “wish to destroy Palestinians” which means the deprivation of water “may amount to the crime of genocide.”
“What we have found is that the Israeli government is intentionally killing Palestinians in Gaza by denying them the water that they need to survive,” Human Rights Watch Middle East director Lama Faki told a press conference.
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Both this and the Amnesty report come weeks after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s PM and his former defence chief alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel, whose campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and displaced most of the 2.3 million population, denies the allegations.
Reuters
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