A senior European Union (EU) official on Thursday labelled Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide, marking the first time a member of the bloc’s commission has publicly used the term.
“The genocide in Gaza exposes Europe’s failure to act and speak with one voice, even as protests spread across European cities and 14 U.N. Security Council members call for an immediate ceasefire,” said European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera at the opening ceremony of the academic year at the Sciences Po university in Paris.
In an interview published on August 07, Ribera had suggested that Israel’s actions “look very much like genocide,” but had stopped short of making a formal declaration.
The recognition comes days after the world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars passed a resolution saying the legal criteria had been met to establish that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), 86 per cent backed the resolution on August 1, declaring that Israel’s “policies and actions in Gaza” had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 UN Convention on genocide.
The IAGS called upon the government of Israel to “immediately cease” all acts that constitute “genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza”.
The three-page resolution also calls on Israel to cease killing of civilians, including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population.
Since October 05, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, as more than 64,000 Palestinians, including children, have been killed, while thousands of others are still buried under the rubble.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) destroyed most buildings in the territory and forced nearly all its residents to flee their homes at least once.
A global hunger monitor relied on by the United Nations (UN) warned that parts of the territory are now suffering a man-made famine.