Find Your Voice About:
GENOCIDE
- According to the UN: “To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group.”
- Hamas has openly declared its intention to destroy Israel and the Jewish people
- Since 7th October, the IDF has been carrying out counter-attacks in Gaza in order to destroy Hamas
- Although these have led to much secondary damage and especially a very high number of Palestinian civilian casualties, (according to unverified Hamas figures) the IDF has continually stressed that it is not targeting the Palestinian population in Gaza and has taken precautions, repeatedly urging civilians to evacuate military target areas
- Hamas are nonetheless using the term genocide to describe Israel’s action in the Gaza strip
- Previous conflicts have sadly resulted in huger losses of civilian life, e.g. the US military killing over 46,000 civilians in Afghanistan, close to 200,000 in Iraq and over 130,000 in Syria in the post 9/11 era