On August 31, 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), founded in 1994, drafted and published a resolution on the Gaza crisis. In it, Israel’s actions in Gaza are classified as genocide based on dozens of sources.
“De facto and de jure, Israel’s policies and actions in the Gaza Strip meet the legal definition of genocide.”
The International Association of Genocide Scholars is a “global, interdisciplinary, and nonpartisan organization that aims to advance research and teaching on the nature, causes, and consequences of genocide and to advance policy studies for the prevention of genocide.”
On August 31, 2025, it adopted a resolution on the crisis in Gaza, which you can read in the translation from German:
“Considering that, since the horrific Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, which in itself constitutes an international crime, the Israeli government has committed systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Gaza, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure (hospitals, residential buildings, commercial buildings, etc.). According to official United Nations estimates, at the time of the adoption of this resolution, more than 59,000 adults and children in Gaza have been killed;
Considering that these crimes, it is estimated that many thousands of people are buried under the rubble or have otherwise become inaccessible and are likely dead;
Taking into account the bombings and other acts of violence, it is estimated that more than 143,000 people have been injured, many of them seriously;
Considering that the actions of the Israeli government against the Palestinians, namely torture, arbitrary detention, sexual and reproductive violence, deliberate attacks on medical and humanitarian workers and journalists, and the deliberate withholding of food, water and electricity, actions which are essential for the survival of the population;
Considering that Israel has forcibly expelled almost 2.3 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and estimating that more than 90% of the housing infrastructure has been destroyed;
Considering that these crimes have, among other things, led to the destruction of entire families and several generations Palestinians;
Considering that Israel has destroyed schools, universities, libraries, museums and archives that are essential to the continued collective well-being and identity of the Palestinians;
Considering that Israel has killed or injured more than 50,000 children, which constitutes genocide, as stated in a joint statement by six countries, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which states: “Children form a significant part of the groups protected by the Genocide Convention, and the deliberate targeting of children is an indication of the intent to destroy a group as such, at least in part. Children are vital to the survival of any group as such, as the physical annihilation of the group is certain if it cannot regenerate”;
Considering that leading representatives of Israeli government, the Minister of Defense and high-ranking military officers have explicitly declared their “intent to exterminate” by describing the Palestinians in Gaza as enemies and “human animals” in their entirety and expressing their intention to cause “maximum damage” to Gaza, to “level Gaza” and to turn Gaza into “hell”;
Whereas Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the current US President’s plan, arguing that all Palestinians will be forcibly removed from the Gaza Strip to be driven away without being granted the right of return, which, according to Navi Pillay, head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, amounts to ethnic cleansing;
Whereas the deliberate destruction of agricultural lands, food warehouses and bakeries, as well as other acts of violence that impede food production, combined with the denial and restriction of humanitarian assistance, indicate that unbearable living conditions are being deliberately created, leading to the starvation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip;
Considering that the International Criminal Court on 21 November 2024, issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galal, in the context of the Court’s investigation, which began on 3 March 2021, for crimes committed in the Palestinian territories from 13 June 2014 onwards, and indicted them for crimes under the Rome Statute allegedly committed in the Gaza Strip from at least 8 October 2023, including the starvation of the civilian population, the deliberate use of force against the civilian population;
Considering that Israel’s actions in response to the 7 October attack and the subsequent hostage-taking were directed not only against the Hamas group responsible for it, but also against the entire population of the Gaza Strip;
Considering that The International Criminal Court has ruled on three interim orders in the case of South Africa vs. Israel (January, March and May 2024), finding that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide in its attack on Gaza and calling on Israel to take all measures at its disposal to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to genocide and to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Gaza;
Considering that leading international legal organizations and United Nations bodies, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, Forensic Architecture, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, have conducted extensive research and publications concluding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza;
Taking into account Whereas some Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish and other academic experts working in Holocaust and genocide studies, as well as in international law, have concluded that the actions of the Israeli Government and military constitute genocide;
Recognizing that international civil society has a responsibility to prevent genocide by encouraging and assisting States to comply with their obligations under the Genocide Convention on the Prevention, Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
Considering that alleged security measures against members of a group are often used as a pretext for mass killings and genocides, as was the case in this case;
The International Association of Genocide Researchers states that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948);
Declares that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity within the meaning of international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
Calls on the Israeli government to immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza, including targeted attacks and killings of civilians, including children, starvation, withholding of humanitarian aid, water, fuel and other essential goods for the survival of the population, sexual and reproductive violence and forced displacement of the population;
Calls on the Israeli government to comply with the interim measures of the International Court of Justice. Calls on States Parties to the International Criminal Court to fulfil their obligations to cooperate with the Court and to arrest all persons for whom arrest warrants have been issued;
Calls on all States to take active steps to ensure compliance with their obligations under international law, including the Genocide Convention, the Arms Trade Treaty and international humanitarian law, with regard to Israel and Palestine;
Calls on the Israeli Government and all other UN members to support a process of reparations and transitional justice that will ensure democracy, freedom, dignity and security for all the people of Gaza.
