Israel has launched strikes across the Gaza Strip , killing at least 31 people as it presses ahead with a major offensive in Gaza city, the territory’s largest city.
Airstrikes and artillery shelling have echoed through Gaza City since Israel declared it a combat zone last week. On the city’s outskirts and in the Jabaliya refugee camp, residents have observed explosive-laden robots demolishing buildings.
Hospitals in Gaza said at least 31 people were killed by Israeli fire today, more than half of them women and children. At least 13 people were killed in Gaza City, where Israel has carried out several previous large-scale raids since Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel to ignite the war on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group — now largely reduced to a guerrilla organization — operates in densely-populated areas.
Gaza City residents, many displaced by war multiple times, now face the twin threats of combat and hunger. The world’s leading authority on food crises said last month that it was in the throes of famine — a crisis driven by ongoing fighting and Israel’s blockade, magnified by repeated mass displacement and the collapse of food production.
A total of 63,557 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says another 160,660 people have been wounded. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up around half the dead.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but staffed by medical professionals. UN agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of war casualties. Israel disputes them, but hasn’t provided its own toll.
Scholars Accuse Israel Of Committing Genocide In Gaza
Leading genocide scholars, meanwhile, accused Israel of genocide, allegations the government vehemently rejects.
A resolution from the International Association of Genocide Scholars — which has around 500 members worldwide, including a number of Holocaust experts — said that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide,” as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The resolution was supported by 86% of those who voted. The organization didn’t release the specifics of the voting.
The scholars’ resolution accused Israel of crimes including “indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure” in Gaza and called on Israel to “immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.”
It begins with an acknowledgment that Hamas’ attack “constitutes international crimes.”
Israel, which was established in the wake of the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews and others were killed, vehemently rejects the allegation.
It says it takes every measure to avoid harming civilians and is fighting a war of self-defense after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which Israel says was itself a genocidal act.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the scholars’ resolution “an embarrassment to the legal profession and to any academic standard.” It said that the determination was “entirely based on Hamas’ campaign of lies.”
In July, two prominent Israeli rights groups — B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel — said that their country is committing genocide in Gaza.
The organizations don’t reflect mainstream thinking in Israel, but it marked the first time that local Jewish-led organizations have made such accusations. International human rights groups have also leveled the allegation.
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