SA welcomes Amnesty report on Israel committing genocide in Gaza [VIDEO]
It investigated air strikes, aid data, public statements, and other material to reach the genocide assessment.
Displaced Palestinians leave an area in east Khan Yunis after the Israeli army issued a new evacuation order for parts of the city and Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on July 1, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. Picture: Bashar TALEB / AFP
South Africa welcomed Amnesty International’s landmark report that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,
Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The report, ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, released on Thursday, found clear evidence of civilians killed and deliberately starved of both food and other necessities of life, and a lack of evidence to support Israel’s assertions that Hamas and its allies are responsible for such harm to civilians.
Watch Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza
Since then at least 44 580 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
Israeli atrocities
Amnesty said the Israeli military has committed at least three of the five acts banned by the 1948 Genocide Convention, including indiscriminate killings of civilians, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and “deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.
“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International.
Israel angrily dismissed the findings as “entirely false”, denouncing the report as “fabricated” and “based on lies”.
The reports also document how Israel has unleashed “hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.”
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‘Amnesty reputable’
Department of International Relations spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said Amnesty International, a non-governmental organisation, is known for its rigorous and detailed reports.
“This latest report is no exception. The findings of this report affirm South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and align with the following reports from the United Nations.”
‘This is genocide. It must stop now.’
Shenilla Mohamed, Amnesty International South Africa executive director said Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.
“The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience,” said Mohamed.
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‘Gaza wasteland’
Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, stated that the Israeli leadership’s promise last year to destroy Gaza has been fulfilled.
“The Strip now is a wasteland of rubble and human remains,” where survivors struggle to hold on to life, and bodies are decomposing in the ruins of what used to be clinics and hospitals.”
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied, emphasized that the international community must recognize what is happening in Gaza as genocide.
Albanese urged understanding of the broader design behind the current situation in Palestine, noting that Palestinians have experienced war crimes and crimes against humanity throughout their lives, but the current situation is different.
Dirco call
Phiri emphasised that the work of Amnesty International must be viewed through the “prism of human rights defenders”.
“We call upon the international community to support the right to defend human rights and to strengthen the protection of human rights defenders from any repercussions of their work.
“We urge all to protect and support those who expose atrocities and advocate for the oppressed. South Africa calls for an immediate ceasefire and for the protection of Palestinian lives and rights,” Phiri said.
Israel’s false claims
Meanwhile, Amnesty International found that Israel had made false claims about the volume of aid entering Gaza.
“Israel imposed conditions of life in Gaza that created a deadly mixture of malnutrition, hunger and diseases, and exposed Palestinians to a slow, calculated death. Israel also subjected hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza to incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment.”
In its report, Amnesty International combined hundreds of interviews with satellite images, video footage, and other material, including publicly available material relating to South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel.
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SA ICJ case
South Africa filed its memorial to the ICJ in October, as Israel’s parliament approved a bill banning the main UN aid agency UNWRA for the war-devastated Gaza Strip, sparking international outcry.
In accordance with ICJ rules, the filing remains confidential until it is published by the court.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that South Africa’s filing at the ICJ includes 750 pages of primary text, along with more than 4,000 pages of exhibits and annexes, to demonstrate that Israel is intentionally seeking to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel must convince the ICJ that South Africa’s assertions of intent are without merit. It has until July 2025 to file its counter-memorial.
If accepted, South Africa’s case would mark a historic first, as no state has successfully prosecuted another for genocide under the Genocide Convention of 1948.
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