Gaza: how do we recognize genocide?

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How do we recognize genocide?

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Since October 7th, 2023, Israel has waged an unprecedented offensive on Gaza. What began as retaliation against Hamas attacks has escalated into relentless violence. According to Statista, by July 30, 2025, more than 60,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli bombardments, including over 18,000 children. As early as November 2023, UN reporters, NGOs and lawyers warned that Israel's actions amounted to genocide, an accusation Israel and its allies reject. What does the term genocide mean?

The term was coined in 1944 by Polish-Jewish lawyer Rafael Lemkin, who was a refugee in the United States during the Holocaust. He provided a legal definition which led to the 1948 UN convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. How does international law define genocide? International law requires no minimum death toll. What matters is intent to destroy a group in whole or in part. Past examples include the Rwanda genocide in 1994, where over 800,000 Tutsis were killed, and the Yazidi genocide in Iraq in 2014 with 3,000 victims. The genocide convention lists five acts, killing members of a group, causing serious physical or mental harm, imposing conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children. Only one act if committed with genocidal intent is enough to qualify as genocide.

The Holocaust exemplifies them all. Mass killings through gas chambers, torture and medical experiments, starvation in ghettos and camps, sterilization and marriage bans, and the forced Germanization of Jewish children. Do these criteria apply to Gaza? Amnesty International's 300-page report published in 2024, We Feel Like Subhumans, concluded yes.

Civilians are killed on a massive scale. 60% are women and children. Nearly 98,000 have lasting injuries and at least 31 documented cases of torture. Israel's blockade has created famine and unlivable conditions. And statements from over 100 Israeli officials dehumanizing Palestinians suggest genocidal intent. Who can prosecute genocide? Two courts have jurisdiction, the International Court of Justice, which tries states and the International Criminal Court, which tries individuals. In November 2024, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not for genocide. There you have it. Now you know how to recognize genocide. In under three minutes, we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines. Listen along and you really will know for sure.