“SLOW CALCULATED DEATH”
Amnesty’s 300-page report points to “direct deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructures where there was no Hamas presence or any other military objectives” as well as the blocking of aid deliveries, and the displacement of 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
Palestinians have been subjected to “malnutrition, hunger and diseases” and exposed to a “slow, calculated death”, Amnesty said.
The rights group, which is also due to publish a report on the crimes committed by Hamas, cited 15 air strikes in Gaza between Oct 7, 2023 and April 20, which killed 334 civilians, including 141 children, for which the group found “no evidence that any of these strikes were directed at a military objective”.
The Amnesty report also referenced dozens of calls by Israeli officials and soldiers for the annihilation, destruction, burning or “erasure” of Gaza.
Such statements highlighted “systemic impunity” as well as “an environment that emboldens … such behaviour”.
“Governments must stop pretending that they are powerless to terminate Israel’s occupation, to end apartheid and to stop the genocide in Gaza,” Callamard said.
“States that transfer arms to Israel violate their obligations to prevent genocide under the convention and are at risk of becoming complicit.”
