Amnesty International accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians

The report was released the morning after a round of fresh Israeli airstrikes hit a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza late Wednesday, killing at least 21 people, the head of the nearby Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press.

The Amnesty International report described the period from Oct. 7, 2023 — the day Hamas and other militant groups attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage — and this July. According to officials in Gaza, more than 44,000 people have been killed in Israel’s war in the enclave.

In response to a request from NBC News, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said that “the claims presented in this report are entirely baseless and fail to account for the operational realities faced by the IDF” and that it is working to “dismantle Hamas’ military infrastructure.”

The spokesperson added that “the IDF takes all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians during operations” and that the report ignores “Hamas’ violations of international law, including its use of civilians as human shields and its deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians.”

While the report focuses on Israel’s conduct, it notes that some of Hamas’ actions “constituted war crimes under international law,” and called upon Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, like Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to agree to an immediate cease-fire.

The strike on the al-Mawasi tent camp was one of several across Gaza on Wednesday that left scenes of burning chaos, with emergency workers recovering charred bodies, including those of women and children.

“The place was a hell,” one firefighter, Mohammed Alnajar, told NBC News. “It was a catastrophe everywhere: Shattered martyrs and propane tanks belonging to the displaced were exploding.”

In a statement, the IDF said the strike was conducted against “senior Hamas terrorists who were involved in terrorist activities in the humanitarian area in Khan Younis,” adding that secondary explosions suggested “the presence of weaponry in the area.”