People ARE basing their view of a genocide in Gaza for political (and Jew hatred) reasons.
The definition is established in Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Article II
In the present Convention, 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:
- Killing members of the group;
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Now there is documented evidence, from Palestinians themselves even, that the IDF-
- issued thousands of evacuation orders, leaflets, phone calls, texts as warnings of bombings,
- created humanitarian corridors and safe zones, implemented localised pauses and routes specifically to allow aid movement—for example, a daily pause along the Kerem Shalom–Salah al-Din route in June 2024, maintained coordination mechanisms with the UN and international NGOs and facilitated humanitarian missions including complex missions in active combat areas,
- facilitated humanitarian pauses in fighting specifically to enable a mass polio vaccination in Gaza in 2024,
- facilitated the entry of 1 tonne of aid per person in Gaza, facilitated thousands of tonnes of tents, blankets, clothing, heating equipment and other winter supplies,
- supplied water through Israeli pipelines, and allowed fuel for water, sewage and hospital systems, reopened/maintained water pipelines into Gaza and coordinated repairs to water infrastructure with the northern pipeline providing an average of about 50 litres per person per day at one point,
- participated in humanitarian airdrops of food and other supplies, particularly into northern Gaza.
- facilitated medical supplies, international medical teams and field hospitals inside Gaza,
- coordinated evacuation of seriously ill and wounded Palestinians, including children, to Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and European countries for treatment,
- coordinated deliveries of fuel, oxygen, incubators, medicines and other supplies to hospitals, including hospitals in northern Gaza, coordinated repairs to vital infrastructure for hospitals and bakeries,
- facilitated the reopening/operation of bakeries; Israeli figures reported up to 26 bakeries producing nearly 5 million breads/rolls/pitas per day in May 2024,
- facilitated GHF in delivering 62,000 tonnes of food, equivalent to around 187 million meals, directly to Gazans and approximately 1.1 million supplementary-food packages for children
SO, if the objective were to physically destroy Palestinians as a group, why would Israel repeatedly take measures whose purpose and foreseeable effect were to preserve Palestinian civilian life - food, water, medical evacuation, vaccination, humanitarian pauses, hospitals, bakeries, aid distribution, etc?
People commenting about the legal cases are also missing that the ICC 'on the ground fact finding' mission to Gaza, planned for months and with ICC Investigative Staff due to arrive in Israel on the 20th May 2024, was abruptly cancelled without notice on that same day as the ICC Prosecutor (under investigation for sexual misconduct) announced he was applying for arrest warrants for the Israeli PM and Defence Minister instead!
In January 2024, the ICJ did not rule that Israel was committing genocide. It found that Palestinians in Gaza had plausible rights to protection from acts of genocide (pretty obvious no!) and ordered provisional measures while the case proceeded. The Court expressly noted that it was not making a final determination of genocidal intent at that stage.
On the 24th May 2024 Order, Israel was ordered to take effective measures to ensure “unimpeded access to the Gaza Strip” for any commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission or other investigative body mandated by competent UN organs to investigate allegations of genocide.
The relevant UN body, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, has sought access to Gaza.
Israel has long argued that this particular Commission is biased and lacks impartiality, objecting to its mandate, methodology and what Israel regards as its predetermined hostility toward Israel. Israel therefore has generally refused to cooperate with it rather than treating it as a neutral investigative body. Israel has continued to make this objection in its responses to subsequent Commission reports.
Israel had also refused access to this UN Commission's predecessors during previous Gaza conflicts, so this wasn't an entirely new policy created after October 7.
I think it's important that to remember that although the* *cancelled ICC on-the-ground investigation would not have formally fulfilled the specific investigative mechanism contemplated by the ICJ's May 2024 order, because it wasn't a UN-mandated body, it potentially could have provided valuable first-hand evidence relevant to the very factual questions underlying the ICJ genocide proceedings.
Someone blessed with critical thinking skills may think it was very convenient that the agreed ICC fact finding mission was cancelled on the 20th May and the ICJ Order to give access to a UN body, who they knew Israel wouldn't give access to, was made on the 24th May.