The top ISRAELI human rights organization just declared Gaza a genocide and released a 70+ page report. READ IT HERE.
B’Tselem has spent 35 years documenting the Israeli occupation. Now, for the first time ever, they say it plainly: Israel is committing genocide.
What Is Genocide — And Why This Fits
Genocide isn’t just killing. It’s a coordinated effort to destroy a people in whole or in part — through:
Mass killing
Starvation
Forced displacement
Preventing births
Psychological destruction
Systematic degradation of living conditions
As B’Tselem explains:
“Genocide is one of the gravest crimes in international law… legally and morally, genocide can never be justified under any circumstances — including self-defense” (p. 4).
Israel is guilty of every one of these acts. And not just accidentally. Deliberately. Systematically. Proudly. You would struggle to find ANY DEFINITION of genocide that they don’t meet.
What’s Happening in Gaza Isn’t a War — It’s a Process of Annihilation
Since October 7, Israel has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians in Gaza — the overwhelming majority of them civilians. 29% were children. (p. 19)
Another 138,520 people have been wounded — often left to die without painkillers or anesthesia. (p. 16)
Hospitals have been bombed. Medical workers assassinated. Children have had limbs amputated without anesthesia. (pp. 22–23)
The healthcare system has collapsed. Babies are dying of diarrhea. Pregnant mothers can't deliver. Starving children are freezing to death in tents. (pp. 23, 36, 53)
“It is reasonable to assume that the entire population of the Gaza Strip… is currently experiencing severe, lasting mental and bodily harm” (p. 16).
They bombed hospitals, schools, water systems, wheat mills, and power grids — not by accident, but by policy.
“Israel has systematically destroyed much of the infrastructure that enables local food production… 80% of cropland, 70% of greenhouses, and 95% of cattle were destroyed.” (p. 31)
They used starvation as a weapon of war:
“UN experts asserted in January 2024 that ‘the starvation inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza is unprecedented.’” (p. 32)
And then — after months of hunger — Israel and the United States built fake “aid distribution sites” designed to kill.
“UN representatives described these distribution sites as ‘death traps,’ where exhausted and starving people were forced to stand in extreme conditions… 758 people were killed, and more than 5,000 injured at the food sites alone.” (p. 33)
That is genocide. Not only in result — but in intent.
Genocide Is Not Just a Crime of Death — It’s a Crime of Dehumanization
The B’Tselem report lays out, step by step, how Israeli politicians, soldiers, and media figures systematically dehumanized Palestinians to justify this genocide.
It includes dozens of genocidal quotes. Here are just a few:
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister (Oct 9):
“We are fighting human animals… there will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, no water.” (p. 66)Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister (May 2025):
“We are destroying more and more homes. Gazans will have nowhere to return to.” (p. 47)Avi Bluth, IDF Central Command General:
Ordered troops to “shoot to kill anyone approaching from Gaza” — pregnant women included. (p. 27)Brigadier Kalifa Bar Dado:
“We will crush every one of them… annihilate it… pursue them in homes, tunnels, streets… until it is destroyed.” (p. 69)
These are not fringe lunatics. These are senior Israeli officials.
And It’s Not Just Gaza — It’s the West Bank. It’s East Jerusalem. It’s Inside Israel.
That’s what makes this genocide so dangerous.
Because it’s not isolated. It’s expanding.
“The same logic being applied in Gaza — ethnic cleansing, destruction of living conditions, indiscriminate killing — is now being implemented across the West Bank and inside Israel.” (pp. 6–7)
Across the West Bank, settlers and soldiers are displacing entire Palestinian communities. Villages are burned. Children are shot. Homes bulldozed.
“Between October 2023 and June 2025, at least 48 detainees died in Israeli custody. Many were tortured. Most were held without trial.” (p. 61)
Inside Israel, it’s just as brutal — especially for Palestinian citizens of Israel:
“In 2024 alone, 230 Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in crime-related violence — most victims of state neglect and firearms flooding.” (p. 30)
This is not just genocide. This is a total war against Palestinian existence — physical, political, cultural, historical.
They’re Burning Qur’ans. Bombing Mosques. Destroying Churches.
The B’Tselem report documents extensive targeting of religious sites:
206 archaeological and historical sites destroyed, including some 5th-century Christian churches. (p. 56–57)
Mosques bombed while people prayed.
Copies of the Qur’an burned — intentionally — by Israeli soldiers. (p. 57)
Stray dogs eating decomposing bodies in public parks. (p. 54)
This is not war. This is desecration.
And every day, the silence of so-called moral nations grows louder.
Even the Schools Are Gone — 658,000 Children Out of Class for Over 18 Months
“90% of all schools in Gaza were damaged by April 2025.” (p. 55)
“As of June 2025, none of Gaza’s schools were operational.” (p. 55)
Children are traumatized. Malnourished. Displaced. Grieving.
“A December 2024 study found that 96% of Gaza’s children showed symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.” (p. 25)
You tell me what that is if not a coordinated plan to wipe out a people.
But This Didn’t Start in October — It Started in 1948. And It’s Been Building Ever Since.
The report dedicates an entire section to what it calls “Genocide as a Process.” (Section 5)
That process began long before Hamas. Long before this war.
It began with:
Ethnic cleansing during the Nakba
Institutional apartheid
Mass incarceration without trial
Demographic engineering
Military occupation and settler violence
B’Tselem traces this decades-long history with chilling clarity:
“The genocide now underway in Gaza is rooted in a long-standing regime of separation, ethnic cleansing, and systemic violence that has governed all areas under Israeli control since 1948.” (p. 71)
This is not a sudden aberration.
It’s the final form of a system that was always designed to erase Palestinian life.
The Cost of This Silence Is Global
The report ends with a warning.
It’s not just about Gaza. It’s about the world.
“The international community’s failure to act… may reshape the norms of global conduct and international law… and turn the post-WWII order into a starting point for the targeting of civilians.” (p. 87)
This is not just about Palestinians anymore.
It’s about what kind of world our children will inherit.
I remember when I first called it genocide.
People mocked me. Said I was exaggerating. Said I was “emotional.” Said I was lying. Said I was an antisemite. They said I was trying to get Jews killed, Said Shaun King.
But now, Israel’s own leading human rights organization — B’Tselem — has published a 70-page report that leaves no room for doubt. A brilliant copy stating the main lines of this report, by the talented Shaun King thenorthstar@substack.com