The UK government continues to deny that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people – it is wrong. Whether the government denies it or not, this is still genocide.
Genocide means acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. This includes killing members of the group and deliberately inflicting conditions of life to bring about the group’s physical destruction.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed 73,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In the months since the latest 'ceasefire' started, Israel has killed 950 Palestinians in Gaza, injured 3,000, and destroyed thousands more Palestinian homes. Israel has not withdrawn its military to the lines agreed in the ‘ceasefire’ deal – and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered it to seize even more of Gaza.
Israel continues to block food, medicine and shelter from entering Gaza. Many of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are sheltering in flimsy tents, starving because of Israel’s illegal blockade.
This isn’t the genocide restarting. Israel’s genocide never stopped.
The UN Commission of Inquiry – a body of experts appointed by the UN to investigate potential crimes in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory – genocide scholars and human rights groups agree: this is genocide.
Now, the UK government needs to admit it too, and take immediate action to end the UK’s complicity.