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Muse Spark 1.2Oct 14, 2026meta/muse-spark-1.2-20260805

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

This question involves contested legal findings — I'll review the definitions, court proceedings, and expert assessments on Gaza since October 7th.

Whether Israel's military actions in Gaza since October 7, 2023 constitute genocide is legally contested and has not been finally adjudicated by the principal international court.

1. Legal definition of genocide

The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as:

> any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group

The acts include:

> 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

Genocide is described as a crime of special intent (dolus specialis); it is carried out deliberately, with intent to destroy the group as such. Proving that specific intent, as distinct from military intent, proportionality, or war crimes, is the central legal challenge.

2. Status of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case

In December 2023, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the ICJ alleging violations of the Genocide Convention.

•In January 2024, the court ruled that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa under the Genocide Convention were “plausible,” namely, the right of Gazans to be protected from alleged acts of genocide. It ordered six provisional measures, including for Israel to take action to prevent genocidal acts, prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to genocide, and take immediate and effective steps to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance.
•The Court ordered Israel to take actions into preventing the attempt of a genocide against civilians in Gaza as outlined in Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention and to “prevent and punish” any possible incitement to genocide.
•It did not order a ceasefire that South Africa had demanded, but instead ordered Israel do everything it can to prevent acts of genocide.
•The Court also repeatedly stressed that it had not determined that any violations of the Genocide Convention had occurred.

As of 2026, no final judgment has been issued:

> No final judgment of the International Court of Justice has found Israel responsible for genocide

The case remains before the ICJ and has not reached a final determination on the merits. Procedural orders have fixed further pleadings into 2027-2029, with a final ruling on the merits not yet issued.

Following the hearings, the Court began deliberations. As of October 9, 2026, no final judgment on the merits had been announced.

3. Bodies and experts that have concluded genocide has occurred

Several UN bodies, human rights organizations, and scholarly associations have concluded that Israel's actions do meet the legal definition:

UN Special Rapporteur: Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, presented her report saying there are reasonable grounds to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In March 2024, Albanese reported that Israel's actions in Gaza amounted to genocide.

UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry: Chaired by Navi Pillay, the commission concluded on 16 September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. It concluded that Israel had committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the Genocide Convention, with genocidal intent. A statement described Israel as "responsible for the commission of four genocidal acts in Gaza with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza". Israel rejected that finding.

Human rights organizations:

•A United Nations commission, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all separately concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
•Amnesty International's investigation concluded that Israel had "committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip", asserting Israeli forces had committed three of five acts prohibited under the Convention, "namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and" conditions calculated to destroy the group.
•Human Rights Watch in December 2024 highlighted how Israeli authorities had deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to water and described it as an act of genocide, and said the Israeli government is intentionally killing Palestinians in Gaza by denying them water. Human Rights Watch is the second major rights group in a month to use the word genocide after Amnesty.

Scholarly association: On 31 August 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars, passed a resolution saying that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Eighty-six percent of those who voted among the 500-member association backed the resolution declaring Israel’s "policies and actions in Gaza" had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 convention, which declares "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)".

These findings typically cite: large-scale killing and injury (Gaza health authorities and independent studies cite 67,000-75,000 killed since October 2023, with thousands more missing under rubble), destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, water and sanitation systems necessary to sustain human life, obstruction of humanitarian aid and water, and statements by senior Israeli officials interpreted as evidence of genocidal intent.

4. Arguments that reject or dispute the genocide characterization

Israel's government and some legal scholars and states reject the characterization:

•Israel’s legal adviser at the ICJ said its military actions in Gaza are acts of self-defense against Hamas and “other terrorist organisations”, and that South Africa’s interpretation was “grossly distorted”, adding that: “If there were acts of genocide, they have been perpetrated against Israel.”
•Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed genocide claims as “the biggest lie of the century,” framing strikes as within the state’s right to self-defense after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
•The Elie Wiesel Foundation stated: “Israel’s actions in Gaza do not constitute genocide — they are legitimate acts of self-defense against an organization that seeks Israel’s destruction”.

Scholarly disagreement persists:

•A January–February 2025 survey of Middle East scholars found 46.0% defined the campaign as Genocide and 36.0% as Major war crimes akin to genocide, indicating no consensus.
•Critics of the IAGS resolution argue it mislabels a defensive war against a genocidal terrorist organization, and that acting in self-defense is not the same as “intent to destroy, in whole or in part” the Palestinian people.
•Some states, such as Sweden, have said they would await the assessments from an international court before determining genocide, even while calling information about allegations very serious.

Other arguments raised against the genocide label include challenges to intent (asserting military targeting of Hamas rather than Palestinians as a group), citation of warnings, evacuations and aid facilitation as evidence against intent to destroy, and demographic arguments.

5. Summary

•Legally, genocide requires proof of both prohibited acts and specific intent to destroy a protected group.
•The ICJ has found that Palestinians have a plausible right to protection under the Genocide Convention and ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts and incitement and allow aid, but has not found that genocide has occurred, and its final judgment is pending until at least 2027-2029.
•The UN Commission of Inquiry (September 2025), UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, MSF and others, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have concluded that Israel is committing genocide or genocidal acts in Gaza.
•Israel denies this, characterizes its operation as self-defense against Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attacks, and disputes genocidal intent, a view supported by some scholars, legal experts and governments.

Therefore, whether Israel's actions constitute genocide depends on the legal assessment of intent and facts, and authoritative judicial determination by the ICJ has not yet been made.

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