The United States disagrees with Amnesty International's conclusion that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war, the State Department said on Thursday.
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at a regular news briefing that the US continues to find allegations of genocide in Gaza unfounded, after the London-based Amnesty International human rights group in a report on Thursday said Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Israel has consistently rejected any accusation of genocide, saying it has respected international law and has a right to defend itself after the cross-border Hamas attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 that precipitated the war.
Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border 14 months ago, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Gaza's Health Ministry says that Israel's military campaign since then has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians and injured many others.
Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza, a tiny, densely populated and heavily built-up coastal territory. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been internally displaced, some as many as 10 times.
