90% of Gaza’s population is displaced. Almost 50,000 people have been killed, the vast majority of them women and children, and many more are seriously injured.
Lisa Hultman, a peace and conflict researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, says there are many indications that the mass murder of Palestinian civilians is deliberate and part of the Israeli strategy.
According to the UN, about seven out of ten people killed in Gaza are women and children, an extremely high proportion compared to other armed conflicts.
− The level of violence against civilians in Gaza is extreme compared to other conflicts, especially in terms of the number of children killed. The death of so many children is also clear evidence that civilians are the main victims.
Israel has blamed the high number of civilian casualties on the use of civilians as shields by Hamas and other groups, and the peace researcher believes that this has probably happened, but that this does not give Israel a free pass to kill civilian men, women and children.
“Cannot be justified”
She also points out that the extremely high death toll may well be due to Israel actively and deliberately targeting civilians − and that it does not have to be about some kind of mistake or unintentional collateral damage.
− There are indications that the high number of casualties in Gaza is not the result of carelessness but may also be deliberate, as supported by statements from some political and military leaders. These statements indicate an intention to clear certain areas, which may point to an ongoing genocide.
− To a certain extent, you can strike military targets even if it leads to civilian casualties. But on the scale we are seeing in Gaza, it is not justifiable, she continued.
US defends Israel
According to Hultman, the fact that few countries have so far chosen to call what is happening in Gaza a genocide is because the states in question then also have a legal responsibility to stop what is happening.
− This is partly because it comes with a responsibility. The Genocide Convention states that all states have a responsibility to prevent genocide. This means that if we recognize that genocide is taking place, then other states and the international community also have a responsibility to act.
For Sweden and other Western countries, it is also a matter of not wanting to clash with the United States, which is Israel’s most important ally and on which most European countries are dependent. She also emphasizes that only the UN Security Council can take coercive measures against Tel Aviv − and that the US has veto power there and has so far chosen to block all such initiatives.
“Must stand up for the civilian population”
While she does not see an imminent solution to the conflict, she believes that it is necessary for more states to join forces and go beyond pressure on Israel.
− EU countries can take initiatives and put pressure, but they don’t have enough influence in the region. I think it’s necessary for the US and the Arab states to come together and discuss some kind of agreement for the region. And then it will need to be backed up by military forces, some kind of international or regional force on the ground.
− We have to be able to recognize that on both sides there have been abuses of various dimensions. The political leadership on both sides is extremist. We must stand up for the good of the civilian population, both in Gaza and in Israel, she concluded.
