Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed more than 61,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 17,900 children, and injured at least 154,000. The actual death toll is likely higher, with many still trapped beneath the rubble. The Israeli military is making it impossible to sustain human life in Gaza – systematically destroying Gaza’s health system, deliberately starving the population, repeatedly forcibly displacing civilians from their homes, and imposing a suffocating siege preventing access to essential needs. MAP’s teams, partners and volunteers have witnessed this catastrophe firsthand.
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that it is plausible Israel is committing genocide and issued provisional measures to protect Palestinians from genocide. Though it may take several years for the ICJ to reach a final ruling in this case, numerous UN human rights experts, genocide scholars, legal experts, and Palestinian, Israeli and human rights organisations have since concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal threshold for genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Under international law, genocide involves acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. These acts include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to them, or creating conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s destruction in whole or in part. Israel’s actions in Gaza meet this definition.
MAP has a duty to speak out based on credible findings of legal experts and our own expertise on issues affecting the health and dignity of Palestinians, and the firsthand accounts of our staff, partners and volunteers. Remaining silent in the face of mass atrocities is not an option.
We are calling on the UK and other states to uphold their legal duty to prevent and stop genocide, including by suspending arms transfers to Israel and supporting international accountability.
MAP will continue to speak out until all Palestinians can live with health, dignity, and justice.