'Genocide didn't unfold in Gaza; it was the intent all along'

A new book by Lebanese jurist Mazen Shindab provides an invaluable legal resource on the genocide in Gaza, laying bare the flaws of international law and the moral imperative to hold Israel to account

AFP

People mourn for Palestinian journalists Moaz Abu Taha and Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters contractor, who were killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in Gaza on August 25, 2025, along with 15 others.

'Genocide didn't unfold in Gaza; it was the intent all along'

Abdul Rahman Mazhar Halloush

last update on 25 Aug 2025

In his recently published book The Genocide in Gaza: A Legal Reading in the Custody of the International Court of Justice (Arab House of Science Publishers, Beirut), Lebanese jurist and academic, Dr Mazen Shindab, examines the crimes committed against Palestinian civilians during Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Drawing on legal case studies and field testimonies, he makes a compelling case that Israel has committed and continues to commit genocide in Gaza. And where most writings on the subject remain translations or excerpts from Western research, his study fills a void in Arabic literature.

Genocide, Shindab notes, is defined not by the number of victims but by systematic targeting of a group with the intent to annihilate it. British academic Martin Shaw distinguishes between violence in war—aimed at states or armies—and violence in genocide, directed at social groups. Gaza, he argues, reflects this distinction with chilling accuracy. Israeli violence is aimed at every element of life—people, land, food, water, medicine, even infant formula—ensuring inevitable death for the population.

Therefore, Shindab argues that Israel's war on Gaza didn't evolve into genocide; genocide was the intent from the outset, pointing to early strikes on ambulances and hospitals.

"The message was unmistakable, and it was followed up with even more brutal crimes—all committed with US and Western weapons and the latest AI technologies."

Another indication that genocide was in the works was the dehumanisation of Palestinians on day one of the war, as genocide necessitates the dehumanisation of its victims. Mainstream media played a key role here as it depicted Palestinians as savages and barbarians.

For Shindab, Israel's rhetoric describing Palestinians as "human animals" after October 7, to the eradication of their grandparents' villages as far back as the 1930s, leaves no doubt of the intent to exterminate.

But despite the media's cynical role in manufacturing public consent for genocide, the mass public protests across the world against the genocide show that no amount of propaganda can absolve Israel of its crimes in Gaza.

'A war on children'

The book records testimony from prominent figures such as Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, who calls Gaza’s tragedy “a war on children—a war on their childhood and their future,” noting that more children were killed in Gaza after October 2023 than in all conflicts worldwide over the previous four years. UNICEF reports that more than 111 children are killed or injured daily in Gaza, describing it as “a growing stain on our collective conscience.”

Israel repeatedly targets schools—particularly UNRWA facilities—which are often the last refuge for children. Dozens were killed in the opening weeks of the war when Israel bombed UNRWA’s Al-Fakhoura School in Jabalia camp, followed by strikes on Tal al-Zaatar School in Beit Lahiya, setting the tone for what was to come.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child went further, declaring in March 2023 that “deliberate actions such as the prevention and restriction of humanitarian aid appear aimed at killing and destroying Palestinian children.”

An admission of the sort could be seen in comments that date all the way back to 1973, when then-Israeli premier, Golda Meir, infamously said: “We will never forgive you for making us kill your children.”

So does Israel's war on Gaza meet the criteria for genocide under the UN convention? Shindab is unequivocal: “Despite the ambiguity in the international convention, the term genocide is the most accurate term to describe what is happening now in Gaza."

The cries of a Palestinian child buried under the rubble demand that the guardians of international law act to amend its shortcomings

Lebanese jurist Mazen Shindab

Obstacles to accountability

Many of Israel's backers, of course, deny that a genocide is taking place in Gaza. Shindab explains that vague legal wording in the 1939 convention is partly to blame, because it gives way to politicised interpretation and calls for a comprehensive review of the convention to fix such loopholes.

Furthermore, he points to the inability of the International Criminal Court to function effectively, due to its politicised architecture and the fact that the UN Security Council can overrule it or undermine its work. As for the International Court of Justice, its rulings are not binding without endorsement from the Security Council as well, leaving international justice hostage to great-power politics.

As for Israel's accountability, he says the issue goes way beyond the individual crimes committed by Israeli soldiers, for they "acted under the direct orders of their superiors."

"The commanding authorities and the soldiers carrying out the genocide constitute one legal body—all are Israelis, all acting in Israel's interest," he says.

"The cries of a Palestinian child buried under the rubble demand that the guardians of international law act to amend its shortcomings," he says, adding that "the West champions human rights, while simultaneously trampling on them, turning it into an open joke."

"There are states that want to shield Israel from any prosecution, and there are states that listen to human appeals," Shindab told Al Majalla. "But the decision remains with the most powerful: the United States. It has prevented—and continues to prevent—the issuance of a Chapter VII Security Council resolution imposing an end to the war. This is more than complicity—this is protection and partnership in extermination."

AFP — US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield casts a veto vote during a UN Security Council meeting on a Gaza ceasefire at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 20, 2024.

From victim to perpetrator

The genocide in Gaza, which continues to unfold, stands apart from all prior crimes against humanity—not because of the astronomical death toll (officially around 70,000, which is viewed as a massive undercount) nor because one-third of the victims are children, nor because schools and hospitals have been bombed and destroyed, though all are obvious markers of genocide. What makes it unique is that the perpetrators of the genocide are descendants of Holocaust survivors.

"History books must clearly mark this dark chapter in history not only to bear witness to the Zionist atrocities, but to serve as a warning to future generations to prevent similar fascist ideologies from committing similar crimes," Shindab explains.

And Germany must get its fair share of the blame for what has happened, not only for its Nazi past perpetrating the Holocaust, but for "atoning for the crime at the expense of Palestinian children, whose lifeless bodies provide conclusive evidence to the ICJ, rescuing from the trap of international conspiracy and from the snare of professional conscience," he says.

Glimmers of hope

Despite Israel's longstanding impunity, there are hopeful signs that it is slowly eroding, he explains, pointing to ICC arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and ICJ orders demanding Israel halt its war. These, he argues, increase the likelihood of genocide charges eventually being slapped on Israel and its leaders.

For Shindab, genocide is documented not only by the images of "children's bodies lined before the court of human conscience, mass graves, or premature babies breathing their last breath due to power being cut off, causing incubators to stop working, but by the undeniable certainty of those images—evidence that no state can erase.

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