Do Israel's military actions in Gaza since October 7th, 2023 constitute a genocide?

This legal question is under review in international courts — I'll gather the latest UN, ICJ, and expert assessments.

Israel's military actions in Gaza since October 7, 2023 are alleged to constitute genocide by some courts, UN bodies and human rights organizations, denied by Israel and rejected by some states, and have not received a final binding legal determination.

1. Legal definition

Genocide is defined under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Under Article II, 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

•Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

The Convention provides the internationally recognized legal definition and is defined by:

•a physical element, the five acts listed above

•a mental element: the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such"

> The intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group

Large scale deaths or destruction alone are not sufficient to establish genocide. The crime also requires intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such. What constitutes genocide tends to be broader in popular understanding than under international law.

2. International Court of Justice (ICJ) - South Africa v. Israel

On December 29, 2023, South Africa filed an application with the ICJ, accusing Israel of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, claiming Israel has committed and is committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

On January 26, 2024, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling:

•The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide but stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire

•The court ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts in Gaza

•It found at least some of the rights claimed by Palestinians under the Genocide Convention were plausible and at risk of irreparable harm

The ICJ found it "plausible" that acts capable of falling within the Genocide Convention are occurring, but has not issued a final ruling on genocide.

The ICJ's provisional-measures order found prima facie jurisdiction and identified certain rights as plausible, but expressly declined to determine whether Israel had violated the Genocide Convention, leaving that question to the merits stage.

> No international court has ruled that Israel committed genocide. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is still considering South Africa's case and has not yet made a final decision

The case remains ongoing.

3. Findings that Israel is committing genocide

UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI)

On 16 September 2025, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report concluding that Israel is failing to prevent and is actively committing genocide against Palestinians. The commission was set up by the UN Human Rights Council, though it is independent and does not officially represent the UN.

The report was a 72-page Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide examining evidence between 7 October 2023 and 31 July 2025 limited to the Gaza Strip.

The Commission found Israel guilty of four out of five acts specified in Article 2 - murder, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group, and imposing measures to prevent birthsand concluded Israel engaged in acts (a), (b), (c), and (d).

For genocidal intent (dolus specialis), the Commission established intent in two ways:

•statements expressing an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the protected group

•pattern of conduct where intent is "the only reasonable inference that could be drawn"

Cited statements included:

•Former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claiming Israel was fighting "human animals"

•President Isaac Herzog stating "it's an entire nation out there that is responsible"

•Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoking Amalek, where God tells the Israelites "Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have"

Other organizations:

•Amnesty International: In December 2024, Amnesty International released a 296-page report formally concluding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, based on analysis of 212 interviews, 15 airstrikes and 22 dehumanizing statements by senior Israeli officials.

•International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS): On August 31, 2025, the association passed a resolution declaring Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza. The resolution states explicitly that "Israel's policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the UN Genocide Convention". It was backed by 86% of members who voted, representing 28% of the association's 500 members. There is criticism that only 28 percent cast a ballot.

There is described as a growing consensus among some genocide and Holocaust scholars, international legal experts and human rights organisations that Israel's actions constitute genocide.

4. Position that it does not constitute genocide

Israel has rejected the allegations:

•Israel has rejected the allegations of genocide and war crimes, demanding the UN commission's dissolution, accusing it of a "misinformation campaign to demonize the state of Israel"

•It has previously denied claims of genocide, insisted it only launches attacks in response to Hamas breaches and says it does all it can to avoid civilian casualties

•Israel's foreign ministry denied the validity of the report and said the claims spread a "malicious genocide narrative...serving Hamas"

•Israel did not cooperate with the commission, accusing it of pursuing an anti-Israel political agendaand calling allegations antisemitic "blood libel"

Arguments made by Israel and others against the genocide label include:

•Israel's military objective is to dismantle Hamas and remove the terrorist threat from Gaza—not to destroy the Palestinian people

•Signatories arguing against the label say large-scale deaths alone are not sufficient, and Israel's conduct does not demonstrate an intention to destroy Palestinians, but rather an effort to defeat Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack

•That Hamas deliberately entrenched itself behind civilians complicates any inference of Israeli genocidal intent

State positions:

•The United States and most Western democracies have rejected the genocide charge. "Contrary to allegations made against Israel...what's happening is not genocide. We reject that," U.S. President Joe Biden stated

•Others, including the United States, have strongly rejected South Africa's allegation. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the allegations are "meritless", the U.K. has called them unjustified, and Germany said it "explicitly rejects" them

•Germany has also backed Israel's right to defend itself while rejecting the accusation of genocide

•The U.K. government said that the determination as to whether Israel's actions constitute genocide was up to a court, though it stated that "Israel's actions are appalling"

5. Status as of 2026

•There is no final judicial ruling that Israel has committed genocide. The ICJ found plausibility and ordered provisional measures but left the merits undecided.

•Multiple UN-mandated inquiries and major human rights NGOs have concluded the threshold for genocide is met, citing killings, harm, conditions of life, prevention of births, and evidence of intent from statements and patterns of conduct.

•Israel, the United States and Germany explicitly reject the characterization, arguing lack of specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group as such and that operations target Hamas.

Whether the actions legally constitute genocide therefore remains contested and will ultimately depend on a final determination by a competent international court on the question of dolus specialis — specific intent — which is described as the most difficult element to determine.

Citations (2)

1archive.orgNonprofits and think tanks
United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect
Backs: “Legal definition. Genocide is defined under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Under Article II, 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:”
2wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
2025 UNHRC Commission of Inquiry report on Gaza genocide
Backs: “The case remains ongoing. 3. Findings that Israel is committing genocide. UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI). On 16 September 2025, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report concluding that Israel is failing to prevent and is…”