BERLIN: The German government on Friday rejected Amnesty International’s accusation that Israel is committing “genocide” against Palestinians in its military campaign in Gaza.
Asked for a response to Amnesty’s report, German foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told reporters: “The question of genocide presupposes a clear intention to eradicate an ethnic group. I still do not recognise any such clear intention and therefore I cannot share the conclusions of the report.”
“We take the accusations in the report very seriously and are currently analysing them,” he said.
Amnesty report says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza
“We have repeatedly urged the Israeli government to adjust its military operations in Gaza and better fulfil its obligations to protect civilians,” Fischer said.
“However it is still our opinion that Israel is acting in defence against Hamas which sparked this conflict with its terror attacks,” he said.
On Thursday the London-based human rights group published a 300-page report on Israel’s offensive in Gaza, saying its findings were based on satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans, as well as “dehumanising and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials”.
Israel dismissed the findings as “entirely false”.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,580 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.