Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing “a live-streamed genocide” in Gaza, alleging that Israeli forces are violating the UN Genocide Convention through repeated, targeted actions aimed at destroying the Palestinian population. In its 2024 annual report, released Monday, the rights group detailed alleged violations by Israeli forces, including “causing serious bodily or mental harm to civilians” and “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” The report asserts these acts demonstrate a “specific intent” to annihilate Pales

Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing “a live-streamed genocide” in Gaza, alleging that Israeli forces are violating the UN Genocide Convention through repeated, targeted actions aimed at destroying the Palestinian population. In its 2024 annual report, released Monday, the rights group detailed alleged violations by Israeli forces, including “causing serious bodily or mental harm to civilians” and “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” The report asserts these acts demonstrate a “specific intent” to annihilate Palestinians, a core criterion under the Genocide Convention. Amnesty said Israel has consistently denied, obstructed, and failed to allow humanitarian access into Gaza and condemned the ongoing military offensive in the southern city of Rafah, which proceeded despite international warnings — including from the International Court of Justice — over the catastrophic impact on civilians. “Israeli air strikes have frequently hit civilians who were following evacuation orders,” Amnesty reported, adding that Israeli forces continued to “arbitrarily detain and, in some cases, forcibly disappear Palestinians.” “Since 7 October 2023 – when Hamas perpetrated horrific crimes against Israeli citizens and others and captured more than 250 hostages – the world has been made audience to a live-streamed genocide,” said Amnesty’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard in the foreword of the report. “States watched on as if powerless, as Israel killed thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, wiping out entire multigenerational families, destroying homes, livelihoods, hospitals and schools,” she continued. Callamard further condemned what she called a culture of impunity supported by international allies: “Israel and its powerful allies, first among them the USA, claimed that or acted as if international law did not apply to them.” Israel has repeatedly rejected allegations of genocide, insisting its military operations in Gaza are acts of self-defense against Hamas, and arguing that it takes extraordinary precautions to avoid harming civilians. According to Palestinian health authorities, over 51,300 people, including at least 17,400 children, have been killed in Gaza since the conflict reignited on October 7, 2023. The Israeli government states that 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on that day.

Broader Global Concerns

Amnesty’s report also highlighted growing threats to human rights beyond the Middle East. Callamard criticized the early tenure of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025, describing his administration as a major threat to global accountability. “A multiplicity of assaults – against human rights accountability, against international law, and against the UN – have been but some of the hallmarks of the first 100 days of US President Donald Trump’s ‘reign’ in 2025,” she wrote. “But those reckless and punishing offensives… did not start this year. Red lines don’t turn green overnight.” Amnesty also condemned alleged war crimes by Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and spotlighted intensifying gender-based repression in Afghanistan and Iran. “The Taliban government criminalized the public existence of women and girls,” Callamard stated, citing the enforcement of “so-called vice and virtue laws” that barred women from education and employment. She noted that dozens of women protesters were either forcibly disappeared or arbitrarily detained. In Iran, Callamard said, a new wave of compulsory veiling laws had “intensified oppression of women and girls,” with punishments including flogging, exorbitant fines, and harsh prison sentences. Despite this, “officials and vigilantes who violently attack women and girls for defying the law continued with impunity,” she added. The comprehensive report by Amnesty International paints a grim picture of escalating abuses and the erosion of international law — from Gaza and Ukraine to Kabul and Tehran — while warning of a growing failure by global powers to uphold human rights protections.

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