As the world watches in horror the crisis unfolding in Gaza and Israel, Amnesty International has been hard at work. Our teams have been researching, monitoring, and documenting human rights abuses. Our experts are carrying out painstaking verification of the findings in our Crisis Evidence Lab to expose crimes under international law. We will continue to campaign, as we always do, for the protection of civilians.
Since the violence broke out, unverified rumours and false claims have been circulating on social media. To combat this misinformation, Amnesty has rigorously documented and verified the evidence, including violations of the laws of war. Read on to find out what we uncovered and what we can do to protect civilians in the face of catastrophe.
Amnesty International’s findings
Attacks by Palestinian armed groups
On 7 October, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups from Gaza fired indiscriminate rockets and sent fighters into southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and injuring more. In one of the most egregious incidents at the Nova Music festival, at least 260 people were killed, while others are still missing.
These flagrant violations of international law display an absolute disregard for human life.
We verified chilling videos which show armed men shooting at civilians and dragging people away as hostages … All civilians who were abducted, including children, must be released immediately.
Agnes Callemard, Secretary General, Amnesty International
Israeli strikes hitting civilian targets
Israel responded to these attacks with relentless strikes on Gaza, killing Palestinian civilians and leaving many more trapped under rubble. The bombing has obliterated generations of families and destroyed whole neighbourhoods.
Amnesty International has documented unlawful Israeli attacks, including indiscriminate attacks, which caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as war crimes. Testimonies from eyewitness and survivors highlighted, again and again, how Israeli attacks decimated Palestinian families, causing such destruction that surviving relatives have little but rubble to remember their loved ones by,
As an Australian of Palestinian descent, the last week has been overwhelming. My family and I have watched innocent civilians including hundreds of children constantly bombed, the targeting of medical personnel and hospitals, Gaza being destroyed and over one million of our people being forcibly displaced with nowhere safe to go. At least 50 families have been wiped from the Civil Registry in Gaza. We collectively feel like it’s a second Nakba.
Mohamed Duar, Occupied Palestinian Territories / Israel Spokesperson, Amnesty International Australia
Cutting off of food, water, electricity, and fuel
On 9 October Israel’s Minister of Defence declared that Gaza would be cut off from all water, food, electricity and fuel. This constitutes collective punishment of a civilian population, which is a war crime. Amnesty reiterates that Palestinian civilians are not responsible for the crimes of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. Israel must not, under international law, make them suffer for acts they cannot control.
On 12 October, Gaza’s only power plant ran out of fuel.
The blackout has plunged the Gaza strip into darkness, limiting communications, access to essential services and clean water and leaving Gaza’s already depleted hospitals without vital medical equipment. This has happened at a time when medics are struggling to treat thousands wounded in Israeli attacks. The blackout is endangering the lives of patients, including those in intensive care and newborn babies on life support.
The blackout has plunged the Gaza strip into darkness, limiting communications, access to essential services and clean water and leaving Gaza’s already depleted hospitals without vital medical equipment. This has happened at a time when medics are struggling to treat thousands wounded in Israeli attacks. The blackout is endangering the lives of patients, including those in intensive care and newborn babies on life support.
Evacuation orders
On 13 October the Israeli Army gave just 24 hours notice to evacuate the more than one million residents in the north of Gaza. The order sowed panic among the population and left thousands of internally displaced Palestinian sleeping on the streets, not knowing where to flee to or where they can find safety.
The roads in northern Gaza have been severely damaged by Israeli strikes. There is no public transportation available, and fuel is scarce due to the blockade.
Everyone is running for their life, it’s beyond horror. Children crying and in terror.
Gaza resident
Amnesty’s Digital Evidence Lab verified that Israeli forces targeted a civilian convoy fleeing northern Gaza. When ambulances arrived on the scene they were attacked. Over 70 people were killed.
They [Israeli army] must tell me how we can evacuate hospitals with ICU patients and all the wounded in the recent attacks, it is nonsense, it’s impossible
A humanitarian worker in Gaza
White phosphorous
Amnesty’s Citizen Evidence Lab has verified the use of white phosphorus by the Israeli Defence Force in densely populated civilian areas of Gaza. White phosphorus burns at extremely high temperatures when exposed to air and continues to burn inside flesh. It causes horrific pain and injuries.
What is international humanitarian law?
International humanitarian law is also known as ‘the laws of war’, and it places obligations on the actors in a conflict. A cardinal rule of international humanitarian law is that all parties to a conflict have a clear obligation to protect the lives of civilians.
Amnesty International campaigns for all parties to conflicts, around the world, to comply with international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
What are the root causes of this conflict?
This outbreak of violence be seen in the wider context of the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Since 2007, Israel has imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, collectively punishing its entire population. Last year, nine patients, including three children, died while waiting for Israeli permits to receive treatment outside of Gaza.
This is the sixth major military operation between the Israeli government and Gaza-based armed groups since then. A 16 year old in Gaza will have lived through six conflicts in their life.
In all those conflicts, Amnesty has verified violations of international humanitarian law by Israel and Palestinian armed groups. Those responsible have not been held accountable.
In a February 2022 report, Amnesty International set out how Israeli forces have committed apartheid in Gaza, as well as in the West Bank and Israel.
Amnesty International reiterates in the strongest possible terms that nothing can justify war crimes.
Civilians will continue to suffer until Israel dismantles its system of apartheid against Palestinians, including ending its illegal blockade on Gaza. The root causes of these repeated cycles of violence must be addressed. Until that happens, civilians will continue to pay the price.
Civilians will continue to suffer until Israel dismantles its system of apartheid against Palestinians, including ending its illegal blockade on Gaza.
What needs to be done?
Amnesty International is calling on all parties to abide by international law and make every effort to avoid civilian bloodshed. Neither justice nor security can be achieved by a civilian bloodbath in Gaza.
Amnesty International is urging:
- Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians, in line with their obligations under international humanitarian law;
- Palestinian armed groups in Gaza to release all civilian hostages unconditionally and immediately, and to refrain from firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel;
- Israeli authorities to refrain from committing unlawful attacks that kill or injure civilians and destroy civilian homes, hospitals, schools and infrastructure, to immediately rescind the evacuation orders, and to halt the forced displacement of Gazan civilians.
The international community must call for both the Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups to make every effort to protect the lives of civilians, and condemn war crimes, regardless of the perpetrator.
What can I do?
- Support organisations providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), UNICEF, and Doctors without Borders.
- You can donate to support Amnesty’s crisis response and help us continue our investigation to research, monitor and document human rights violations and call for perpetrators to be held to justice.
- Amnesty has compiled testimonies from people living through this catastrophe in Gaza. Please share these people’s stories on your social media so that your friends and family know what is happening in Gaza right now.
