Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s top scholars on the crime say

[Everexpanding]

An overwhelming majority of members of the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association have backed a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime.
Eighty-six per cent of those who voted in the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) supported the motion. The resolution states that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in article II of the United Nations convention for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (1948).”

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/01/israel-committing-genocide-in-gaza-worlds-top-scholars-on-the-say

So far, no one has mentioned the fact that the huge, deep and long underground tunnels (some large enough for trucks to travel through) must have cost a fortune to make - money which Hamas could have used to support the Gazan public. Those tunnels have been found emerging into civilian structures.... Hamas doesn't care for fellow Gazans. If they did, when bombs were dropped on Gaza, why weren't the civilians given shelter in them? Hamas want to get rid of all Israelis (their strongly intended genocide) and they want their radical Islamisation to spread. Would any of you want to bring up your daughters under their regime? Those of you with gay kids - do you know how Gazans treat gays? I have a much loved gay niece. She'd be one of those killed by them. Now ask yourselves - would you want your children to live under a Hamas government or under an Israeli government? Israel is fighting for its children. For their lives. And it's standing up for us in the West, too...

Sorry. Posted twice by mistake...

Except it has come to light and there is no accountability or prosecutions because there never is and there is no global outcry. Israel act with impunity and they do so because people like you find any excuse to deny and detract from their heinous acts.

The evidence is clear. Hamas don't have tanks.

Extensive evidence gathered through forensic analysis, satellite imagery, audio recordings, and eyewitness accounts points to Israeli forces as responsible for the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab, her relatives, and the paramedics sent to rescue them in Gaza City in January 2024. While the Israeli military (IDF) initially denied any involvement, claiming its forces were not in the area, multiple independent investigations have refuted this claim.

Evidence Linking Israeli Forces to the Killings

• Location and Military Presence: Satellite imagery from January 29, 2024, showed Israeli military vehicles, including tanks, near the family's car in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, despite IDF denials.
• Audio Evidence: A recording of the phone call between Hind Rajab's 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamada, and Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) dispatchers captured Layan's voice saying, "They are shooting at us. The tank is next to me," before she was killed.
• Acoustic Analysis: The investigative organization Earshot analyzed the audio recording of the gunfire. Their findings indicated the shots were fired from a tank 13 to 23 meters away from the car. The type of rapid-fire gun used is consistent with Israeli-issued weaponry, not Hamas weapons.
• Car Damage: Forensic Architecture documented 335 bullet holes in the family's Kia car, indicating it was fired upon multiple times and from a close range. Given the proximity, forensic experts concluded the shooters could see the occupants were civilians, including children. Analysis of the vehicle also suggests it was run over by an armored vehicle, such as a bulldozer.
• Targeting of Ambulance: Forensic analysis found that the ambulance sent to rescue Hind, whose movement was coordinated with Israeli authorities, was hit by a 120mm M830A1 High-Explosive Anti-Tank round. This round can be fired by Israeli Merkava tanks, and the trajectory is consistent with the location of Israeli tanks in the area.
• IDF Officer Identified: In May 2025, the Hind Rajab Foundation announced that a year-long investigation identified Lieutenant Colonel Beni Aharon of the IDF's 401st Armored Brigade as the commander of the unit responsible for the attack.

The paramedics had to liaise with the IDF for permission to go to the car to try to rescue Hind. The IDF gave that permission. The ambulance that was allowed into the area where satellites confirmed idf tanks were in close proximity was then fired on by a tank.

Links please?

I’ll go through them later on but IIRC the forensic architecture report seemed to have missed that a machine gun attached to a tank managed not to hit any windows of the car, only the bodywork.

You would expect the military targeting people in a car to go for headshots which would have involved aiming at the windows.

I don’t think it was ever disclosed what injuries Hind died from. She would have had a lot of bullet wounds from 355 rounds which you’d have thought would definitely have been reported.

The IDF have stated that as they were not in the area, they wouldn’t have liaised with the Red Crescent to allow the ambulance passage to get to Hind.

Was any evidence shown that they did?

The standout thing from this is that the tragic death of this child was used to create a foundation solely set up to target IDF soldiers by people with dubious links.

https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/reports/special_report_hrf_foundation_2025-01/en/Research_Reports_unmasking_hate_real_face_hind_rajab_foundation.pdf

@TulipLavender The new movie about Hind will be a hard watch but it got a huge reaction in Cannes
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jmlx1p4mxo

I think the windows were hit alright

Also IIRC no bullets or casings are mentioned being found, only 355 bullet HOLES.

Did the IDF use special disintegrating buliets?

Look again.

Are you referring to the hole in the plastic covering the rear window?

No obvious indicators to show people were mortally wounded inside the car either. Notice the paper rubbish in the front footwell?

There was a video showing the inside of the vehicle I believe. I’ll have a look to if I can find it.

So what do you believe happened that day regarding Hind.

Again, it’s not necessarily a blame game I’m trying to play. I’m not saying, “look at what Israel has done over all these years, they’re the worst”. I’m just trying to look at all the facts and understand what each side was feeling. Of course, there’s the rational person/group to blame but sadly humans don’t always blame the right person for our problems. The same can be said in all countries/groups - we don’t always pour the finger in the right direction (especially if it’s back at ourselves!). So this isn’t all some great take down of Jewish people or Israel throughout history. It’s just being realistic about why there’s so much hatred.

The ‘trend’ at the time was nationalism and Palestinians wanted that too. The Brits promised them that. Then everyone else got it. Again, it’s simplifying things massively but the Brits/israeli combo was an easy combo to blame for what they didn’t get. Again, we can talk about who they should blame but we have to recognise who they did blame.

And re the limits on Palestinians, if my child was tried as an adult in a military court whilst an illegal settler’s child was tried as a child in a civil court, I would feel anger at the people treating me differently. This is the WB, not Gaza. Similarly, it my land was violently taken by settlers and then they built a road on it and didn’t let me use it, I’d be angry with the settlers, the IDF protecting the settlers and people banning from being on my land. Or knocking down my kids school. Or rejecting almost every permit I made to access my farm land. They could blame their government but they are also entitled to blame the people making those laws and decision, especially in the case of settler violence.

But we can go round in circles here. Ultimately what I’m trying to say is that we can argue who is actually to blame or should be to blame OR we can focus on who was perceived to be to blame. Historically, that’s more important as it’s gotten us to this point.

And sadly I agree - I think the path they are on is deeply disturbing and I’m not sure how it can end well. I talk about the past and blame and hatred because I wish people would change tactics/change the direction of all of this by seeing how it’s failed time and time in the past. I’m not trying to bring down Israel or make them out to be worse than Hamas. I understand their predicament. My concern is that they are setting themselves up for much much more violence because they cannot wipe out Hamas’s ideology/‘allure’ by displacing and hurting so many innocent people.

sighs I agree, especially with what you say about settlers / WB.

They need a state, and one run by responsible adults. Proper leadership is what Palestinians have been short of for a long time.

I do think the narrative needs to change to Palestinians taking some accountability for where they've ended up. And Israel should take accountability for their atrocious behavior in the WB.

Anyway, I hope you have a good evening.

I’d like to clarify why I focus on children when I post about Gaza. I have come across many posts on this site and other forums where people have made up their minds that all adult Gazans are somehow involved in terrorism or so radicalised they are lost causes. It is not a view I support but I appreciate that some have reached that conclusion and I’m not going to waste time debating with someone who isn’t open minded. So I focus on children because their innocence can’t be questioned. Without giving too many personal details, my background is child development/psychology/radicalism related so it’s the group I happen to care more about generally speaking. I don’t do it because I spend too much time looking at horrendous X propaganda posts or because I see one picture of child in war zone and freak out. But I will always be angry that children die in war and I will always advocate for children in war zones.

Agreed and I also accept that plenty of people of the pro-p side do suggest that it’s all on Israel which I disagree with too.

You too!

I shared a link to a very disturbing but interesting article all about those tunnels just the other day. I’ve repeatedly said that Hamas need to go - they are terrorists. What pro-Palestinians are trying to do is give a voice to all the people on Gaza and the WB who are not terrorist. I wouldn’t want my children to grow up under either government right now as they are both too extreme. Obviously to different degrees. The same goes for many other counties in the world right now. I wouldn’t want my children to grow up in any country where any form of extremist run the show.

I kind of guessed your background was something to do with child development! 😉 and with regard to the image-flooding propaganda (for want of a better word; it portrays a reality, but nevertheless is used as a form of psychological warfare here), I was conflating (a very popular word on these threads!) you with loads of other PPs. I was just musing out loud on the adult/child thing, really, because it strikes me that this is how the conflict tends to be perceived in its simplest terms: Israel as a domineering power-hungry man, and Gaza as a helpless population of weeping women and suffering babies.

It's a really REALLY bad idea to start a war, and I think Israel resisted it for as long as they could (Iron Dome, security blockades, etc). But the blame for the suffering of the innocents is, in my view, squarely on the shoulders of the adults who provoked this horrible conflict by carrying out atrocities of mind-boggling sadism and brutality (not to mention their promises to keep doing it, given half a chance).

Apologies if I’m always banging on about kids! Old habits etc.!

And I understand your perspective but still stick by the fact that I believe that over the years both Israel and Hamas/Palestinians have created the current situation. Neither is innocent. Neither is solely to blame.

The report Forensic Architecture did appears detailed.

https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-hind-rajab

However, they can only rely on the evidence available to them- which appears to be visual and audio.

That doesn’t of course mean bullets were not there - but there were no forensic scientists looking for them!

The paper rubbish in the footwell is very touching- this was a family car being used by a family. Not sure why people see this as being of any other consequence? The report has not suggested the car was burned- but there is indication a tank went into the car!

Spent bullets or casings would obviously give clear evidence of what type they were. They would be rather evident with 355 bullets.

Bullets removed post mortem too. Rather conveniently they or the amount of bullets haven’t been mentioned.

Although they were removed from children and used as evidence of them being deliberately sniped in the head by the IDF.

Do you realise what happens to people inside a car that has 355 bullet holes in it?

The fact there was rubbish in car was not the point. The point was you’d expect some evidence of massive injuries sustained which would have been apparent in the footwell of a car as well as the seats.

So what do you think happened that day?

My point was that the people doing the report did not have access to the bullets nor the casings. They clearly existed!

Maybe the bodies were removed? Hind’s body was found 2 weeks after she died. Maybe those how found her did not think to take her for a post mortem given her state of decomposition? I don’t imagine the hospitals were prioritising those with tens of thousands wounded.

As a lay person- the report - with analysis of both the visual and the acoustic evidence that they did have access to sounds pretty convincing.

All clearly made for a moving documentary on her death which has convinced and profoundly upset people.

Sorry it makes the IDF look bad - not sure what you want people to say?

@CaramelPecan
The Washington Post investigation covered all points and is very comprehensive in terms of the evidence and the timelines. Includes clear video and audio Evidence. It is behind a pay wall but recommend a read and cancel the subscription for 25cents/pence a week.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/hind-rajab-israel-gaza-killing-timeline/?nexturl=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/hind-rajab-israel-gaza-killing-timeline/&tid=uswpaywall

There is audio of Hinds cousin Layan in the car first saying the tank is next to us. Then gunshots and then the call drops. The Palestinian Red Crescent then call back and they have audio of Hind over a call lasting 3.5 hours where she says 5 times that the tanks are near.

The car and the ambulance weren't accessible for 12 days after the killings.

It can be found on archive.ph

...and I respect your view.

In child development terms, I can see that you place great store by environmental factors and stresses. I suppose what I'm thinking is that it's all very well wanting children to grow up in a healthy enviroment where they can thrive, but thanks to Hamas that was never going to happen in Gaza... and the death cult they were exposed to is likely to have twisted minds towards glorious martyrdom (and other crazy shit) more than anything Israel could ever do, good or bad. According to that worldview Israel, and the Jews, are not just in the way, but a poisonous stain on God's Holy Land etc. It's hard to see this bizarre perspective magically resolving even if Israel were to play gentle for the next 10,000 years.

It's also the sheer scale and ingenuity of the atrocities. What happened was bad enough, but survivors all mention the perpetrators laughing all the time e.g. while raping the living, dead and dying. There is also the exuberant sadism of Facetiming family and friends on the victim's phone so that they got to see the agony and humiliation of their loved one's final moments (I won't go into lurid detail here; not everyone on MN is unrelated to those involved).

You say we are all human, and that is true to a point; but what kind of humanity enjoys forcing a emaciated Evyatar David to watch the other hostages being released and then marches him back into captivity to dig his own grave? What kind of humanity rejoices in the streets at the sight of Shani Louk's mangled corpse, and spits on it to wild applause?

That's not just righteous anger, it's a whole other ball game. At what point does it go beyond "Oh dear, we should have been kinder" and more towards "We need to talk about Kevin"?

@Beachtastic , @PinkBobby has been at pains in all her(?) posts to attribute blame in the current to historical factors that both sides were a part of.

Reading your post, would it be true to say that you do not attribute any blame on Israeli actions ?

Not my interest on whether the IDF look bad or not so no need for an apology.

I don’t think them admitting they killed Hind, her family or the paramedics en route to save her, would change anything in the perception of them as they’ve already been judged guilty.

I’m interested in the truth.