Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International

For almost two years, the world has witnessed unfathomable levels of death and destruction in the occupied Gaza Strip. Israel’s brutal onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of people, wiped out entire families, and flattened residential neighbourhoods.

Israel has destroyed critical infrastructure and forcibly displaced 1.9 million Palestinians, over 90% of the population of the Gaza Strip, causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

Amnesty International has investigated Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the evidence it has collected and analysed provides a sufficient basis to conclude that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza following October 7, 2023.

READ MORE AND DOWNLOAD THE REPORT: Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza

We are witnessing horror unfolding on an unimaginable scale in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Civilian deaths in Gaza continue to rise at a staggering rate amid relentless Israeli bombardment, in response to the horrific attacks on October 7, 2023 in Israel by Hamas and other armed groups that resulted in 1,200 people killed and the abduction of civilians. More than a third of casualties in Gaza are children and countless bodies are still trapped beneath the rubble. Millions more face further displacement, dispossession and suffering.

At least 100 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and other armed groups and continue to be held in Gaza remain in danger, and ongoing indiscriminate rocket fire into Israel places civilians at risk. 

Amnesty International is one of the few organizations still on the ground and monitoring the human rights and humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. Israel security forces and Palestinian armed groups must make every effort to protect the lives of civilians after the outbreak of fighting in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

***TOOLKIT FOR ACTION***

What you will find below:

• Amnesty’s calls for action
• Letter writing to Canada, the USA & Israel
• Online censorship and what to do about it
• Protecting the Right to Protest
• Solidarity Actions
• How the laws of war apply
• The latest Open Letters, News & Updates
• Further background including Israel’s system of Apartheid

What Amnesty International is calling for

Condemnation is not enough. We call on the international community to act collectively and urgently to stop Israel’s genocide against Palestinians:

• Demand an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
• Ensure full, unimpeded access to all areas of Gaza and firmly reject Israel’s military-controlled, non-neutral aid distribution model. A principled, UN-led humanitarian response must be immediately restored, and funding for impartial humanitarian organizations must be maintained and expanded.
• End any trade or transfers that contribute to or are linked to the genocide, apartheid or the unlawful occupation. This includes banning all weapons and surveillance equipment transfers and any military assistance to Israel. States must end preferential trade agreements and cooperation deals with Israel, including the EU-Israel Trade Agreement.
• Adopt targeted sanctions against those Israeli officials most implicated in international crimes and cooperate with the International Criminal Court, including by implementing its arrest warrants.
• Commit to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the rehabilitation of its people while opposing any forced displacement of Palestinians within or outside of Gaza.
• Establish mechanisms for reparations and rehabilitation of Palestinians, with Israel bearing the primary financial responsibility.

We further call for:

• Hamas and all other armed groups to unconditionally and immediately release all civilian hostages and to treat all those being held captive humanely, including by providing medical treatment, pending their release.
• Israel to release all arbitrarily detained Palestinians.

What you can do to help: take action!

We’re making more updates to this section soon! Stay tuned!

Take Action Online

LIFT THE BLOCKADE ON GAZA. STOP THE GENOCIDE: Through its suffocating blockade, Israel has consistently and deliberately restricted the entry of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid to the occupied Gaza Strip. Israel’s blockade is a key means through which it is inflicting genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and amounts to a form of collective punishment. We need action not just words from Canada and the international community.

CEASEFIRE NOW: Temporary pauses are not a ceasefire. The urgent call for a permanent ceasefire remains.

STOP ARMS SALES: Any state continuing to transfer military equipment violates international rules on arms trade and risks becoming complicit in violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes – and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Sign and share our online action Calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to stop all direct or indirect transfers of military equipment to Israel.

RELEASE DR ABU SAFIYA: Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan hospital and a prominent voice of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector, is still being arbitrarily detained by Israeli authorities since his arrest on 27 December A lawyer who visited him and other detainees, recently reported that he has been subjected to abuse and other ill-treatment. Join us in demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

Write a letter

DISAPPEARED JOURNALISTS: Write letters calling on Israel’s Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Nidal al-Waheidi and Haitham Abdelwahed, two journalists from the occupied Gaza Strip who disappeared following their arrest on October 7, 2023. More information and addresses here.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Write letters calling for the release of Ahmad Khalefa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and lawyer, human rights defender, community organiser and newly elected city council member. On October 19, 2023, Israeli police violently arrested him along with 10 other demonstrators from a peaceful protest in his native town of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel. He was subsequently charged with “incitement to terrorism” and “identification with a terrorist group,” for chanting slogans against the war in Gaza. Israeli authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Ahmad Khalefa from house arrest, allow him to resume his work without intimidation and drop the baseless charges against him. More information and addresses here.

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS: UPDATE: MUNTHER AMIRA HAS BEEN RELEASED! THANKS TO ALL WHO TOOK ACTION. Write letters calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Munther Amira, a prominent Palestinian human rights defender and social worker, held by Israeli forces since December 18, 2023. On January 11, 2024, an Israeli military court upheld a four-month administrative detention order against him. Amira, who urgently needs daily medication for chronic illnesses, faces serious health risks while in detention. More information and addresses here.

ATTACKS ON MEDICAL WORKERS: UPDATE: DR. KHALED AL SERR HAS BEEN RELEASED! THANKS TO ALL WHO TOOK ACTION. Write personal letters to the Military Advocate General of the Israel Defense Force urging him to immediately release Dr. Khaled Al Serr and disclose the whereabouts and legal status of all Palestinian health workers from Gaza who have been forcibly disappeared. On March 24, 2024, Israeli forces detained Palestinian doctor Khaled Al Serr from Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza. He has since been held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance. Over two months later, Israeli authorities still conceal his fate and whereabouts. His family has only received scant information from his colleagues and released detainees. More information and addresses here.

Report online censorship and shadowbanning

Amnesty International is continuing to monitor instances of the wrongful blocking or removal of social media posts, as well as shadowbanning of accounts in the context of the current conflict. If you or anyone you know has experienced this, please share links and/or screenshots of the content that was flagged or removed, as well as screenshots of the original content with hello@amnesty.tech.

Support the Right to Protest

PRESS RELEASES

Canada: Authorities must protect rights as student protests surge (3 May 2024)

OTHER RESOURCES

Sign up for Amnesty’s online course on the Right to Protest and learn why protest is protected by human rights, how the freedom to protest is under threat throughout the world, and how you can defend your right to protest.

Learn more about your rights when protesting in Canada by checking out this guide from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Take Amnesty’s online course on Self care for Activists and learn how to invest in yourself as an activist. Understand the nature of burnout and vicarious trauma, and learn how to put together your own Self-Care Toolbox.

Watch the UN Human Rights Council #56 side event on 26 June 2024 in Geneva at the Palais des Nations: In defence of free expression and peaceful assembly in solidarity with Palestinian human rights:

Share Amnesty’s calls for action on social media and at protests

Download Amnesty branded signs and images from this folder. Remember that Amnesty has a specific role and that we do not endorse all calls by other organizations.

Send a message of support to the families of the hostages

Use this online form set up by Amnesty Israel to send a message of support to the families of the hostages. Your messages will be delivered at the end of January 2024. THIS ACTION IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT MESSAGES.

Act in Solidarity

Join local protests and marches in your area. Bring signs calling for a ceasefire now, end arms sales to Israel, end apartheid, end the occupation and, of course, stop the genocide!

Learn more about human rights in the context of armed conflict

Understanding the long roots of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel

RIGHTS REVEALED #1: Human Rights and Armed Conflict: Even wars have laws

This looks at human rights in armed conflict and explains International Humanitarian Law (aka the “laws of war”).

RIGHTS REVEALED #2: Human Rights and Armed Conflict: The escalating conflict in Israel and Gaza

This looks specifically at human rights and International Humanitarian Law in the context of the current and historical conflict in Gaza/OPT and Israel.

Read more about the current crisis in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Latest updates from the UN Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) including civilian casualties.

AMNESTY CANADA’S OPEN LETTERS

Open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties in the occupied Gaza Strip and Israel (8 Nov 2023)

Open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on human rights in Gaza (14 Oct 2023)

JOINT LETTERS

Feminist Organizations Joint Appeal for Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza (17 Nov 2023)

Open Letter: Civil society coalition urges Canada to stop arms transfers to Israel (5 Feb 2024)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASES

We’re updating this section soon! Stay tuned!

In the meantime, browse a list of press releases on Amnesty’s international website.

Further Background on human rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

The root causes of these repeated cycles of violence must be addressed as a matter of urgency. This requires upholding international law and ending Israel’s 16-year-long illegal blockade on Gaza, and all other aspects of Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on all Palestinians. The Israeli government must refrain from inciting violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, especially around religious sites. Amnesty International calls on the international community to urgently intervene to protect civilians and prevent further suffering.

Since 2007, Israel has imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip collectively punishing its entire population.

In 2021, the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine. Its mandate includes crimes under international law committed by all parties in the current fighting, as well as the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.

Israel’s system of Apartheid is a crime against humanity

In February 2022, Amnesty International released a groundbreaking report on Israel’s apartheid, systemic oppression and discrimination that is a daily reality for Palestinians. 

Read the executive summary, FAQ, our Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and download a copy of the full report ISRAEL’S APARTHEID AGAINST PALESTINIANS: CRUEL SYSTEM OF DOMINATION AND CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.

Sign up for Amnesty’s 90 minute online course on Deconstructing Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians, available in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Hebrew.

In June 2023, Amnesty International published its investigation into the May 2023 offensive on the Gaza strip, finding that Israel had unlawfully destroyed Palestinian homes, often without military necessity in what amounts to a form of collective punishment against the civilian population.

End the Occupation!

Amnesty International is an impartial human rights organization and seeks to ensure that all parties to an armed conflict comply with international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Accordingly, in future briefings, Amnesty International will be investigating Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip to determine whether it is complying with the rules of international humanitarian law, including by taking necessary precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects and refraining from unlawful attacks and from collective punishment of the civilian population, as required under international law. Amnesty International will also continue to monitor the activities of Hamas and Palestinian armed groups.