Michael Abrahams | The Gaza genocide

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

But what is the definition of ‘genocide’? According to the Genocide Convention (1951), genocide means:

Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, 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.

It would be appropriate to first address the fact that Israel’s adversary in this conflict, Hamas, is genocidal. In 2017, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, declared, “Gone is the time in which Hamas discussed recognition of Israel. The discussion now is about when we will wipe out Israel.” On October 7, Hamas was responsible for slaughtering 1,200 Israelis, while taking 247 hostages.

If we agree that Hamas is genocidal, we must also admit the same for Israel, as it is guilty of at least the first three acts on the above-mentioned list.

Israel denies it is committing genocide, but the annihilatory narratives of its leaders make its intention clear. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “flatten” the enclave and invoked the people of Amalek, who, according to the Bible, God gave instructions to wipe out, killing not just “men and women, children and infants”, but also their animals (cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys).

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly,” and that “We will eliminate everything.” Likud parliamentary member Revital Gotliv advocated “shooting powerful missiles without limit” and “crushing and flattening Gaza”. Galit Distel Atbaryan, also of Likud, tweeted about “erasing all of Gaza from the face of the earth” and referred to its inhabitants as “Gaza monsters”. Amichay Eliyahu, the minister of heritage, advocated for dropping a nuclear bomb on the territory. Israeli Defence Force spokesman Daniel Hagan declared that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy”, and that Israeli forces would turn Gaza into a “city of tents”. Likud lawmaker Ariel Kallner tweeted, “Right now, one goal: Nakba! A nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48.”

Israel’s actions match the genocidal rhetoric that reverberates throughout its leadership. Gaza is a small place (365 square kilometres) with closed borders and a high population density (5,500 people per square kilometre). The Israeli Air Force announced that in less than one week, it had dropped about 6,000 bombs on the Gaza Strip, approaching the 7,423 bombs that were dropped on Afghanistan, a much larger land mass (625,860 square kilometres) with a much lower population density (64.70 people per square kilometre), during the most intense year of fighting there.

In war, collateral damage is inevitable, but the degree and rate of death and destruction in Gaza is alarming. For example, according to statista.com, during the first 19 months of the ongoing war in Ukraine, from February 24, 2022, until September 10, 9,614 civilians were killed. In contrast, in the first two months of the Israel-Hamas conflict, over 16,248 people have been killed in Gaza, with some 7,600 being unaccounted for.

Naysayers will say the figures are coming from Hamas and are unreliable. However, in previous conflicts between Israel and Palestinians, the statistics offered by the health authorities in Gaza were found to be correct. The point has also been made that the Gaza authorities do not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel claims to have killed 5,000 Hamas fighters. But even if that is so, the civilian deaths are still excessive.

ALARMING

What is also alarming is the amount of women and children being killed. According to Gaza authorities, after two months, 7,112 children (including babies in incubators) and 4,885 women had been slaughtered: 74 per cent of the total. One month into the conflict, the World Health Organization claimed that a child is killed on average every 10 minutes in the Gaza Strip. Save the Children reported that in just three weeks, the number of children reported killed in Gaza surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019. What is also staggering is the decimation of families. United Nations data for the period up until November 11 states that at least 312 families have lost 10 or more people in the conflict.

Liberal use of huge weapons in dense urban areas, including US-made 2,000-pound bombs, which cause a massive concussive effect and can cause severe injury and damage as far as 800 metres from the point of impact, will not only cause excessive deaths, but including about 40 per cent of the housing in Gaza, creating another issue: ‘domicide’, the mass destruction of dwellings to make the territory uninhabitable. Military analysts say the destruction of northern Gaza in less than seven weeks is comparable with that caused by the carpet-bombing of German cities during the Second World War over several years.

In addition, Amnesty International documented the use of white phosphorus by the Israeli army in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza, in violation of international humanitarian law. White phosphorus is an incendiary substance that sets fire to bodies and buildings, creating flames that are not extinguished on contact with water.

Not only have there been massive casualties and destruction, but more than 1.9 million Gazans (over 80 per cent of the population) have been displaced and forced to exist in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Meanwhile, Israel continues to bomb residential areas, refugee camps, hospitals, educational institutions, places of worship, and even the escape routes Gazans use to seek refuge.

How can this not be genocide?

Michael Abrahams is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, social commentator and human-rights advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or follow him on X , formerly Twitter, @mikeyabrahams.