The prevention and punishment of genocide, as an international crime, was laid down in a UN Convention adopted in the aftermath of the Second World War. The crime of genocide generally involves the deliberate and systematic extermination of a group.
Art. II of the UN Genocide Convention notes that the following acts, if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, may constitute genocide:
killing members of the group;
causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (Genocide | How Does Law Protect in War? - Online Casebook, n.d.)
In a blog post in November 2024 Reuters reported that Pope Francis suggests an international study into possible genocide in Gaza.
Reports in the Lancet cited in a blog post in December 2024 and Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
A summary of the coverage of famine in Gaza in a blog post provides insight into the cliche that truth is often the first casualty of war. (July 23, 2025).
In recent days the coverage of the conflict in Gaza has raised the question of “Was the ‘double tap’ attack on Gaza’s Nasser hospital a war crime?”
The main rules on hostilities are often said to be humanity, necessity, distinction and proportionality. Humanity is about not inflicting unnecessary suffering. Necessity requires that in applying the other rules a commander should be able to do what they need to “win”, but no more than that. Distinction requires that only lawful objectives should be targeted for attack. Proportionality requires that when a lawful objective is attacked, the expected “collateral damage” should not be excessive to the expected military advantage of the attack. (Sweeney, 2025)
Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem reports for the Guardian on the Karim Khan application for warrants relating to alleged crimes committed during the 7 October attack and the ensuing war in Gaza. The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court has said he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, a move that puts the post-second world war rules-based order to the test and presents new challenges for Israel’s western allies.
He named Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip, and Mohammed Deif, the commander of its military wing, considered to be the masterminds of the 7 October assault, as well as Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the group’s political bureau, who is based in Qatar, as wanted for crimes of extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape, sexual assault and torture.
Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, the denial of humanitarian relief supplies and deliberately targeting civilians. (McKernan, n.d.)
Accusations of war crimes in the manner in which Netanyahu and the IDF are conducting the war in Gaza were given more needed attention as a result of the ‘double tap’ attack on Gaza’s Nasser hospital.
References
Genocide | How does law protect in war? - Online casebook. (n.d.). How does law protect in war? Retrieved September 2, 2025, from https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/genocide
McKernan, B. (n.d.). ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli PM and Hamas officials for war crimes. the Guardian. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from https://www.theguardian.com/law/article/2024/may/20/icc-prosecutor-seeks-arrest-warrants-israeli-pm-netanyahu-hamas-officials-war-crimes
Sweeney, J. (2025, August 27). Was the 'double tap' attack on Gaza's Nasser hospital a war crime? Here's what the laws of war say. The Conversation. Retrieved September 2, 2025, from https://theconversation.com/was-the-double-tap-attack-on-gazas-nasser-hospital-a-war-crime-heres-what-the-laws-of-war-say-263955
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