For the first time, two prominent Israeli human rights groups — B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) — have openly labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide”. Their reports were presented in Jerusalem this week, calling on the global community to intervene and increasing the pressure on Israel’s government.

This assertion echoes what many international organizations and UN experts have already claimed was a crossed line. However, up until now, these Israeli entities had refrained from using such terminology.

This marks the first instance of these Israeli organizations employing the term “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

B’Tselem, long recognized for its documentation of human rights in Israel and the occupied territories, issued a report titled ‘Our Genocide‘. They argue that the current conditions in Gaza — widespread fatalities, devastated communities, forced displacements, and imprisonment under severe conditions — fulfill the legal criteria for genocide.

“The report we are releasing today is one we never anticipated having to write,” stated B’Tselem’s executive director Yuli Novak, as reported by ABC.

“However, in recent months, we have witnessed a reality that compels us to confront the truth.

“Israel is perpetrating genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

Novak noted that the Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and numerous hostages, served as a “trigger” — but did not justify the magnitude of the response. “October 7 was indeed real… it was a criminal act,” she remarked, but “that collective trauma was manipulated by a government.”

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PHRI’s focus was on the health crisis in Gaza. Their report (PHRI English PDF) details how hospitals from Al-Shifa to Nasser have been attacked, medical staff have been killed or detained, and access to healthcare is severely limited.

“From the outset, Israel depicted hospitals as legitimate military targets, justifying attacks that would be unacceptable anywhere else,” PHRI’s executive director Guy Shalev explained to the media.

According to Shalev, “Amidst this horror, our colleagues and friends, the healthcare workers of Gaza, are heroically striving to save lives while they themselves are under direct threat.”

PHRI reports over 1,500 healthcare workers have perished, and 300 have been detained.

Newborn Soad Qeshtah in an incubator at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, shortly before her death. Her mother, seven months pregnant, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, and the baby was delivered via emergency cesarean section, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

The Israeli government has dismissed any allegations of genocide. A spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry described B’Tselem’s report as a “politically motivated document”, asserting that, “such an accusation is outrageous, unfounded in both fact and law, and merely strengthens Hamas.”

Israel maintains that its actions are directed against Hamas, not the Palestinian population. “Our defense forces target terrorists, not civilians. Hamas is accountable for the suffering in Gaza,” government spokesperson David Mencer stated, according to BBC.

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Both B’Tselem and PHRI emphasize that intent is a component of genocide – and they cite statements from Israeli leaders as evidence. Novak mentioned, “the highest political level in Israel… openly declared their intent to the world and their soldiers.”

“They held the entire Gaza population accountable for Hamas’s attack,” she noted.

“They referred to Gazans as human animals.”

PHRI’s report determined the destruction of healthcare “is not incidental to war but part of a deliberate policy targeting Palestinians as a group”, referencing the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Palestinians struggling to receive donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

This is not the first time Israel’s actions in Gaza have been accused of breaching legal boundaries. The International Court of Justice is currently examining a separate genocide claim, and human rights organizations worldwide have raised similar concerns.

UN experts, including Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, also declared the war atrocities in Gaza a genocide in 2024.

“If you visit a doctor for cancer and are diagnosed with a fever, you face a significant problem — similarly, those facing genocide are misdiagnosed,” she explained.

Israel categorically denies all these accusations as “wholly unfounded”.

However, B’Tselem’s Novak describes the recognition process as “a very challenging mental and personal journey. It fundamentally alters your perception of who we are”.

“It fundamentally alters your perception of who we are,” she stated.

As these reports garner attention, PHRI’s Shalev emphasized: “Remaining silent in the face of genocide is not an option. We want to emphasize: confronting genocide is not solely the responsibility of legal and political bodies. It requires urgent action from the global health community.”

Lead image: AP News