REVIEW ON THE GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINE
Roberta Trucco
Master’s degree in International and Transnational Criminal Law (L.L.M), Universiteit
Van Amsterdam, Netherlands
16/03/2025
REVIEW ON THE GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINE
The very first hostilities between Israel and Palestine date back to earlier than the events occurring in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. Already in 1948, when the state of Israel was declared, around 15,000 Palestinians were killed and many of their towns and villages destroyed. Many Palestinians were forced to leave their territories and fled to the West Bank and Gaza to live in camps as refugees, while others moved to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Nonetheless, during the Six-Day War occurring in 1967, Israel took control of different areas including the West Bank and Gaza and there it set up a two-tier system. Already existing discriminatory policies were expanded to these territories and Palestinians denied of their rights to freedom, expression and participation in political activities. Still long time before the large-scale military assault that Israel launched on the Gaza
Strip in October 2023, four protracted military assaults were launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip respectively in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021. Then, starting from the attack on 7 October 2023, launched by Palestinian armed groups in the operation “Al Aqsa Flood”, the West Bank but mostly the Gaza Strip witnessed an unprecedented escalation of violence by Israelian armed forces, resulting in a massacre. The attack resulted in over 40,000 Palestinians killed, 92,000 injured and 1.9 million forcibly displaced. Palestinians have been attacked from all sides, by land, air and sea. Many Palestinians have also been killed along “safe routes” or “safe zones” designated by Israel precisely as such.
The article under exanimation here analyses the significant contribution of Zionism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism to the ongoing violence against Palestinians by shaping policies, narratives, and justifications for oppression. The article then moves on in analyzing human rights violations committed against Palestinians by Israel in light of the definition provided for in the Genocide Convention drafted by the United Nations. But before going on with the analysis of the definition of the crime of genocide, it is fundamental to provide the definition of Zionism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism:
• Zionism is a nationalist movement advocating for a Jewish state, has often been used to legitimize the displacement and subjugation of Palestinians.
• Islamophobia fuels dehumanizing stereotypes that portray Palestinians—many of whom are Muslim—as threats, reinforcing policies of discrimination, military aggression, and collective punishment.
• Anti-Palestinian racism denies Palestinian identity, rights, and humanity, justifying their marginalization and dispossession. Together, these ideologies sustain and escalate the systemic violence. The combination of Zionism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian racism creates an environment where violence against Palestinians is normalized, justified, and even encouraged.
These ideologies shape state policies, military operations, and global responses, ensuring that Palestinian suffering is either ignored or framed as necessary. Moving on to the definition given by the UN Genocide Convention in article 2: “genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” By studying International and Transnational Criminal Law at the University, I'm now familiar with the definition of the crime of genocide provided for by the UN Convention and reproduced in article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Court. Thus, what follows is a deep analysis of the application of the definition provided for by the Convention to the acts committed by Israel against Palestinians. of all, it is necessary to clarify whether Palestinians can be classified as a national, ethnical, racial and religious group:
1. Nationality: Palestinians identify as a distinct national community with a shared
history, culture, and territorial connection to historic Palestine.
2. Ethnicity: Palestinians share a common ethnic identity, distinct from other Arab
populations, with unique traditions and dialects.
3. Race: Palestinians are often racialized in political and legal contexts, particularly
in the framing of Israeli policies.
4. Religion: Many Palestinians are Muslim or Christian, and religious identity has been a factor in their persecution. Since Palestinians fit within at least one (if not multiple) of these protected categories, they qualify as a group under the Genocide Convention, meaning acts targeting them based on these identities could legally constitute genocide. The next step is the examination of the element regarding the “intent to destroy”. As far as this element is concerned, there are many signs confirming the genocidal intent. In October 2023, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as leading ministers and members of the army delivered public speeches permeated by hate against Palestinians. These are some of the public statements made: “Gazans will pay an immense price for the actions of Hamas fighters, and Israel will turn parts of Gaza’s densely populated urban areas into rubble.”
“We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly”; or even “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything.”
It is undisputable and undebatable from these statements that there is a clear intention by Israel to hurt and destroy Palestinians. Regarding article 2(a), i.e. killing members of the group, the report confirms that at the time of writing over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed most of which were children. A more recent report by the UN published in December 2024, confirmed an increase in the number of victims amounting to around 45,000 Palestinians being killed. Heavy bombs have been consistently dropped on Gaza and the number of deaths is so extensive that Palestinians’ bodies are being buried in mass graves. Thus, there is evidence that Palestinians have been killed. As for article 2(b) of the Convention, i.e causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, reference must be made to the means used by Israel in the conflicts. Bombs and the use of artillery-fired white phosphorus, causing serious injury and death if inhaled or swallowed, are powerful and armful weapons.
The effects of these weapons are lethal and have been consistently used in attacks against hospitals, schools, humanitarian aid warehouse as well as markets with the purpose of damaging as many people as possible. As a result of these attacks, Palestinians are also suffering mental trauma caused by the consistent dropping of bombs as well as the uncertainty resulting from the lack of safe areas. Also here, the element contained in article 2(b) can be satisfied. The third element, i.e. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, can be easily inferred by the limitations on humanitarian aid in Gaza as well as the forcible displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.
As a result of the ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Palestinians are now out of water, food, medication, supplies and electricity. Many hospitals have been destroyed and humanitarian aid blocked. Moreover, since the beginning of the attacks, and due to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, around 1.4 million Palestinians were forced to leave the territory and displacing in Southern Gaza. Therefore, article 2(c) seems to have been satisfied too. Regarding article 2(d), i.e. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, the UN Women’s press release “Two Mothers are Killed in Gaza Every Hour as Fighting Exceeds 100 Days” published on 19 January 2024, outlines that more than a half of the victims are women or children. Furthermore, due to the lack of medical assistance as well as healthcare facilities, pregnant women are forced to undergo childbirth in poor conditions, with increasing risks for infections or complications.
The intensity of the attacks as well as the targeting of women and children as objectives seem to outline Israel’s intention to prevent births within the group and to bring about Palestinians’ destruction. As far as the fifth and last element of article 2 is concerned, i.e. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group, the report doesn’t mention any evidence about children being transferred to another group. What is rather mentioned is a report by Save the Children revealing that children are forcibly removed from their parents and then subjected to ill-treatment and torture. The report under discussion here also covers other fundamental thematic, but I decided to concentrate my attention mostly on the examination of the crime of genocide. While I was reading this report, I was particularly struck by the guise of “self-defense” declared by Israel and by its failure to acknowledge the massacre occurring in the Gaza strip.
Distortions of international law have been presented by Israel for the purpose of justifying the attacks against Palestinians. Millions of Palestinians have been killed and brutally tortured, most of them lost their homes, belongings and loved ones. Women have been raped and sexually abused, forced to strip naked before their executioners. Children witnessed with their own eyes the brutal deaths of their parents and now live in a condition of uncertainty. Zionism, Islamophobia as well as Anti-Palestinians racism played and still play a fundamental role in the genocide committed against Palestinians by strengthening hate against this group. They have been defined as “animals” and hate speeches calling for their annihilation have been made by leading politicians, ministers and members of the army.
What it’s going on in the Gaza strip is unbearable.
Not so long ago, and precisely on 15 January 2025, a hostages-and-prisoners exchange and armistice to end the Gaza war were agreed to by Israel and Hamas. To date, some Palestinians hostages have been released. Nonetheless, hatred still permeates even during Palestinians' release. They’re subjected to public humiliation by being forced to smile in from of their executioners. What's going on in the Gaza strip is without doubt a genocide, and the international community calls for the need to impose concrete actions on an urgent basis.
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