Amnesty International Israel distanced itself from a report released by its parent organization, Amnesty International, accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza on Thursday.
“We were not among the initiators of the report, nor did we collaborate in its authorship or were involved in funding or approving the report,” the Israeli branch of the international human rights organization said on its website.
“Furthermore, the section’s leadership has decided that the section opposes the report’s conclusions. Specifically, the Israeli section does not accept the assertion that genocide has been proven to be taking place in the Gaza Strip, nor does it accept the operational calls,” Amnesty Israel added.
The branch was responding to a high-profile 296-page report released on Thursday morning by the London-based Amnesty International which claimed Israeli forces in Gaza are “committing genocidal acts.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced the report, saying, “The deplorable and fanatical organization Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies.”
The ministry was referring to a debunked AI report accusing Israel of “apartheid” policies in 2022. Critics exposed that report’s reliance on data provided by terror-linked NGOs, using a rejected definition of apartheid, and ignoring a history of Palestinian terrorism, among other criticisms.
“The genocidal massacre on October 7, 2023, was carried out by the Hamas terrorist organization against Israeli citizens,” the Foreign Ministry’s statement added.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 67 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
