Above photo: Amnesty International.
Israeli human rights groups charge Tel Aviv with ‘committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza’.
B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights join over 100 international groups in condemning Israel for using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Two leading Israeli human rights organizations issued reports on 28 July accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, marking the first time any major Israeli group has made such a declaration.
“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, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip,” B’Tselem wrote.
“In other words: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Physicians for Human Rights said its findings detail “a deliberate, cumulative dismantling of Gaza’s health system, and with it, its people’s ability to survive. This amounts to genocide.”
At a press conference in occupied East Jerusalem, B’Tselem Executive Board Chair Orly Noy said, “This crime must be stopped immediately.
The responsibility lies first and foremost with Israel, but also with the international community, which must use every means to stop the crimes that are still taking place just 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) from here.”
B’Tselem’s Executive Director Yuli Novak stated, “The definition of genocide is a coordinated attack with the intent to destroy a group.”
Amnesty International has accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Israeli authorities are enforcing conditions intended to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinian population.
In a joint statement, 109 humanitarian organizations – including Save the Children, Oxfam, and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) – warned that the Israeli blockade constitutes “forced mass starvation,” and noted that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while attempting to receive humanitarian aid.
Separately, over 170 NGOs have urged an end to the deadly US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid delivery mechanism in the strip, describing the distribution points as “aid traps” where Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire, killing scores of civilians.
The UN Special Committee on Palestine says Israel’s actions meet the legal definition of genocide.
According to a recent UN report, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed near food distribution points since late May, including 766 near sites managed by the US and Israeli-backed GHF.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health says at least 147 people, including 88 children, have died from famine and malnutrition.
Israel ‘freezes’ plans for concentration camp in southern Gaza.
International pressure is growing for Israel to end its effort to starve millions of Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s so-called “Humanitarian City” project, which was planned to be established on the ruins of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, has been frozen, Israeli media reported on 28 July.
“There is no decision to proceed with this, and there is no alternative plan. The political echelon was certain it was heading toward a hostage deal that included withdrawals in the southern Gaza Strip, so it seems they’ve abandoned this initiative – it’s on hold for now,” a senior security source told Yedioth Ahronoth.
The project, described as a concentration camp in Palestinian and Israeli media, was intended to forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to an isolated area near the Egyptian border. Gathering Palestinians there is seen as a first step to ethnically cleansing Gaza and forcing millions of Palestinians to flee to foreign countries as refugees.
Rather than fight Hamas, Israeli forces in Gaza are exerting most of their effort and resources to demolishing homes, residential buildings, and infrastructure to ensure displaced Palestinians have nowhere to return to.
The “Humanitarian City” project aimed to initially force some 600,000 Palestinians into an area between the Philadelphi and Morag axes on the ruins of Rafah.
Military reports estimated that its completion would take at least a year, which angered the Israeli cabinet.
The decision comes as Israel continues to severely restrict aid reaching Gaza, causing starvation and famine in the strip to worsen as a result.
Not only is there little media coverage, when there is the language is watered down to sound less extreme.
Call it what it is, a CONCENTRATION CAMP to hold Palestinians until they’re ETHNICALLY CLEANSED from Gaza.
This is GENOCIDE, what deserves more attention than that? pic.twitter.com/b4VbBlrkvT
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) July 9, 2025
The security source admitted that Israel had blocked aid deliveries to Gaza since last March for domestic political reasons, fearing the disintegration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, despite warnings of the damage this would cause to Israel’s global image.
Earlier this week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed his opposition to plans to slightly ease the blockade. “Not a single grain of wheat will enter Gaza,” he vowed.
Over the weekend, the Israeli military announced a series of so-called “humanitarian” measures.
These include controversial airdrops, limited daily “tactical pauses” in fighting from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, and the opening of corridors for UN aid convoys.
Suwar was evacuated from Gaza & underwent 6 weeks of intensive medical attention & nutrition
But his weight only increased from 3kg to 3.9kg
It’ll take months & months & he’ll never fully recover. The damage already done!
That’s what genocide by starvation looks like;… pic.twitter.com/Q0LCX9ZDZk
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) July 27, 2025
Israel announced the measures in response to the backlash against its efforts to starve Palestinians in Gaza, which has intensified in recent days. A growing number of images of skeletal child corpses are circulating online, as the number of victims of Israel’s blockade and siege of the strip continues to rise.
On Friday, a 5-month-old Palestinian baby suffering from malnutrition, Zeinab Abu Halib, died in her mother’s arms, while doctors are running out of room inside hospitals as they try to treat starving patients.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday that the number of Palestinians who have died from Israeli-induced starvation in the devastated enclave has risen to 147, including 88 children.
