Beyond Collateral Damage: The World’s Failure to Halt Israeli War Crimes in Gaza.

From the ruins of Gaza, a chilling narrative emerges, meticulously documented by global bodies and human rights organizations, painting a picture not just of collateral damage, but of a systematic campaign that appears to violate the fundamental principles of international law. The scale and nature of the destruction, now approaching two years since the devastating escalation, have driven numerous high-level investigations to conclude that grave international crimes, potentially reaching the threshold of war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been committed by Israeli forces, with some UN-mandated bodies concluding that acts of genocide have taken place.

The most overwhelming evidence points to the indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on densely populated civilian areas. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has consistently documented what it calls the widespread disregard for civilian life, noting that Israeli military operations have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, including the decimation of entire families. HRW further found that these operations have flattened entire neighborhoods, severely damaging or destroying most homes, schools, and essential civilian infrastructure. The sheer volume of casualties, which includes some of the highest known death tolls among children, journalists, and health and humanitarian workers in any recent conflict, strongly suggests a pattern of disregard for the legal obligation to distinguish between military targets and civilians. This principle of distinction is a cornerstone of international humanitarian law, and the continuous pattern of civilian fatalities, despite repeated international warnings, forms a substantial part of the war crimes allegations.

The deliberate targeting of the Gaza Strip’s already fragile healthcare system stands as another critical pillar of the accusations. The World Health Organization (WHO) and a UN Commission of Inquiry have verified hundreds of attacks on health facilities since the conflict escalated. The figures are staggering: as of late 2024, the WHO reported over 490 attacks on healthcare in Gaza, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries among medical personnel, and leaving only a handful of hospitals even partially functional. An investigation by a UN Commission concluded in March 2025 that Israel had committed genocidal acts in part by systematically destroying reproductive healthcare facilities while simultaneously imposing a siege that prevented necessary medications from entering, a policy found to be calculated to seriously harm a substantial part of the group. The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation is now underway, and its former prosecutor has noted that Israeli claims about the use of hospitals by Hamas to justify attacks on these protected sites are “grossly exaggerated,” underscoring the legal peril of these actions. In one highly publicized incident, Amnesty International launched an investigation into three Israeli strikes in April, two in Rafah and one in al-Maghazi refugee camp, which killed 44 Palestinian civilians, including 32 children. Amnesty stated that in none of these cases did their investigators find evidence of a military target nearby, leading them to conclude the strikes were “further evidence of a broader pattern of war crimes” and a flouting of international law.

Perhaps the most potent and damning charge is the use of starvation as a weapon of war. In October 2024, Human Rights Watch stated unequivocally that Israeli authorities had caused a famine by using starvation as a method of warfare, a conclusion echoed by the ICC Prosecutor in their application for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the charge of starvation as a method of warfare. The intentional, sweeping restrictions on the entry of food, medicine, and fuel necessary for the survival of the civilian population, particularly in Northern Gaza, created conditions of desperate hunger across the Strip, forcibly displacing virtually the entire population multiple times as they chased non-existent safety and minimal aid. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in its September 2025 report, concluded that the Israeli authorities and security forces have committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention, citing the killing, serious harming, and imposing a total siege, including blocking humanitarian aid leading to starvation, as evidence of an intent to destroy the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.

Finally, the intentional effort to silence the truth is evident in the perilous environment created for journalists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a global NGO, Israeli attacks have killed a devastating number of Palestinian journalists, many of whom were killed while simply trying to document the war. Amnesty International Australia condemned the deliberate killings of journalists, including Al-Jazeera’s Anas Al Sharif, stating that the deliberate targeting of journalists constitutes war crimes under international humanitarian law, and further noting that this pattern represents an attack on journalism itself by preventing the documentation of atrocities. The high death toll among media personnel is seen by some UN figures as part of a strategy to eliminate the world’s only available witnesses to the campaign of destruction and starvation being carried out. The pursuit of accountability remains a long and arduous process, complicated by a deeply polarized international response, but the mountains of evidence compiled by the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and numerous other bodies stand as an enduring record, ensuring that the question of Israeli war crimes in Gaza will remain at the forefront of international justice for years to come.