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

This is a contested legal question — I'll survey current international court proceedings, UN findings, and expert analyses to assess the genocide claim.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza since October 7, 2023 is the subject of an ongoing international legal dispute over whether it constitutes genocide. There has been no final binding ruling that it is genocide, but several independent UN inquiries, human rights organizations and a major association of genocide scholars have concluded that it does, while Israel and some legal scholars strongly deny the charge.

1. Legal definition

Under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as 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; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births; (e) Forcibly transferring children

The crime requires both actus reus (the prohibited acts) and dolus specialis, the specific intent to destroy the group as such. Under the Genocide Convention, the crime requires the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group as such". Moreover, such a goal must be the dolus specialis, or the specific purpose, rather than a tangential side-effect.

A determination as to whether Israel's actions constitute genocide was up to a court, though some governments have stated that Israel's actions are appalling.

2. Background

On October 7, 2023, Hamas led an attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people as justification cited by Israel for its response.

Since then, Israel has conducted a sustained military offensive in Gaza. According to the authorities of the Gaza Strip, the number of Palestinians killed by the offensive launched by Israel after the attacks of October 7, 2023, amounts to 74,250. Other recent counts put the toll at around 74,000 killed and over 175,000 wounded. By 31 July 2025 the UN OCHA cumulative death toll in Gaza reaches 60,199 according to the UN Commission's review of that period. Reports cite widespread destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, siege conditions, displacement and restrictions on food, water and fuel.

3. Arguments and findings that the actions constitute genocide

a) United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry

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 United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), though it is independent and does not officially represent the UN.

The Commission found Israel guilty of four out of five acts specified in Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention against Palestinians (murder, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group, and imposing measures to prevent births). This established actus reus of genocide for acts (a), (b), (c), and (d).

Investigators cited the killing of Palestinians, serious physical and mental harm, and conditions of life that threatened the population's survival. They also pointed to the destruction of reproductive healthcare facilities, including Gaza's largest IVF clinic, in their finding that measures had been taken to prevent births and concluded that Israeli authorities used starvation as a method of warfare and forcibly transferred civilians.

To establish dolus specialis, the Commission said intent is established through "statements expressing an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the protected group" or is the only reasonable inference from the pattern of conduct.

Statements cited include:

A subsequent UN inquiry focused on children, published in June 2025, also found that Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.

b) International Court of Justice (ICJ)

In December 2023 South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to rule that Israel's conduct in Gaza breaches the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The Court has not issued a final ruling on the merits, which is expected to take years. In its January 2024 order, the ICJ was considering South Africa's request for provisional measures, not deciding the merits. The Court found that Palestinians in Gaza had a plausible right to protection from acts of genocide and imposed binding provisional measures while the case proceeded. It did not find that Israel had plausibly committed genocide.

A common misreporting was corrected: the court's January 2024 ruling did not determine that Israel was plausibly committing genocide but rather that Palestinians have a "plausible" right to protection from genocide in Gaza and that Israel must take all measures to prevent a genocide from occurring.

The Court 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 to civilians in Gaza.

The finding by the UN commission does not itself impose criminal penalties. The genocide case against Israel remains before the International Court of Justice, which has yet to issue a final ruling.

c) Scholars and NGOs

This month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution saying Israel's conduct meets the legal definition of genocide under the UN genocide convention.

Specifically:

4. Arguments and findings that the actions do not constitute genocide

Israel rejects the allegations:

Counter-arguments cited:

Israel did not cooperate with the UN commission having accused it of pursuing an anti-Israel political agenda. Israel rejected allegations of genocide as antisemitic "blood libel" and its ambassador described the report as a "libelous rant".

5. Current status

In short, whether Israel's actions constitute genocide is an active, highly contested legal and political question: multiple UN-mandated, scholarly and NGO inquiries have answered yes, Israel and some other experts answer no, and the authoritative judicial body that can make a binding determination under the Genocide Convention — the International Court of Justice — has not yet issued a final ruling.