crime

"...Israel has imposed unprecedented restrictions on access to Gaza by organizations and media outlets, deepening its isolation from the world. B'Tselem's field researchers in the Gaza Strip, who managed to escape... continued collecting testimonies from hundreds of residents... despite the ongoing challenge..."

"[D]ata... not directly investigated and verified by B'Tselem was drawn from... publications and reports by human rights organizations, humanitarian agencies, UN offices and bodies, investigations and reports by reputable media outlets committed to journalistic ethics and data verification standards, expert... internationally recognized professionals, and primary sources... as testimonies and verified documentation from the field. In addition, we drew on... scholarly literature that has examined... genocide... throughout history.., as well as... researchers who have documented widespread practices... in the... war in Gaza and published... in recognized academic journals."

"[W]hile the legal debate over whether Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip is... important and necessary, there is a critical gap between the amount of time it will take the formal legal institutions deliberating... chiefly the International Court of Justice, to issue binding decisions, and the reality of society in Gaza being destroyed before our eyes."

"Genocidal intent was also expressed in numerous statements made by Israeli military officers... soldiers... military and security experts, and... Israeli media and cultural figures. These voices articulated a worldview... according to which... most... Gaza[ns] are... responsible for [October 7] crimes... or... support them."

"Until 14 July 2025... 138,520 people were injured... Approximately 25%... life-altering injuries that require... rehabilitative care, including limb amputations, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and severe burns. ...[R]ecords ...refer only to ...treatment at an official medical facility. ... As with the death toll, it appears... official figures... understate... the... number."

"[W]e have witnessed relentless human suffering and loss of life on a scale unimaginable..."

"Gaza's residents have endured countless traumatic events... with... psychological consequences... [W]ithin a reality of omnipresent death, relentless displacement, and ongoing hunger and disease, many are suffering psychological distress after witnessing horrific events, including the violent deaths of... loved ones."

"[I]ncidence of mental health problems has increased significantly, particularly trauma-related disorders, depression, and anxiety, in a population already exhibiting high rates of mental illness due to prolonged exposure to occupation, blockade, and recurring military violence."

"[E]stimates range from thousands to tens of thousands of deaths, in addition to the direct fatalities caused by the Israeli assault. ...[R]esearchers broadly agree that... figures released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza significantly understate... victims."

"[C]auses of indirect deaths are injuries, infectious diseases, , maternal and neonatal mortality, and complications from untreated chronic illnesses. All... a... result of... destruction of living conditions... restrictions on the entry of , and... assault on the healthcare system that has rendered it unable to cope with... casualties. Experts warn... along with the starvation... indirect deaths will rise further."

"...Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes... with statements by senior... politicians and... commanders about the goals... leads to the... conclusion that Israel is taking... action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip."

"Following the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, Israel launched an intensive military campaign in the Gaza Strip... is still underway... Israel's onslaught on Gaza includes mass killing... in direct attacks and through creating catastrophic living conditions that... raise the massive death toll; serious bodily or mental harm to the entire population... large-scale destruction of infrastructure; destruction of the social fabric, including educational institutions and... cultural sites; mass arrests and abuse of detainees in Israeli prisons, which have... become torture camps for thousands of Palestinians held without trial; mass forced displacement, including attempts at and making the latter an official war goal; and an assault on Palestinian identity through the deliberate destruction of refugee camps and attempts to undermine the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (). The outcome... is severe, and at least in part, irreparable, harm to more than 2 million people..."

"Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

"Since the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide... genocide has... been recognized as one of the gravest crimes in international law, involving acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

"The current onslaught on the Palestinian people, including... Gaza... [is] in the context of... [>]seventy years in which Israel has imposed a violent and discriminatory regime on... Palestinians... its most extreme form... in the Gaza Strip."

"As part of broader... settler-colonialism... from the early stages of Zionist settlement, the Israeli regime works to ensure Jewish supremacy over Palestinians — economically, politically, socially, and culturally."

"These foundations... made it possible to launch a genocidal attack on the Palestinians... after the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023."

"The atrocious attack, aimed mostly at civilians, included many war crimes and likely... crimes against humanity."

"Given the... escalation in... violence against Palestinians in all these areas — which... includes... grave crimes — we must call for an immediate end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and warn of clear and imminent danger that... genocide will not remain confined to Gaza."

"means "in the image [of God]"... from... "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him" (Genesis 1:27). It reflects the principle of the inherent value of all human life. This moral foundation has guided the organization's work..."

"In 2021, joined many others, first and foremost Palestinian organizations and activists, who for decades... identified the Israeli regime as... apartheid... We wrote: ...the Israeli regime implements laws, practices and state violence designed to cement the supremacy of one group — Jews — over another — Palestinians. A key method... is engineering space differently for each group."

"[W]hen the State of Israel was established... [i]t... had a clear objective... to cement the supremacy of the Jewish group across... territory under Israeli control. The main tool... the establishment of an apartheid regime (one that, unlike... South Africa, has never been formally declared as such and... has been consistently denied...) This regime is designed to cement... supremacy... through demographic engineering, separation, shaping public discourse, indoctrination, militarism, and... use of force and violence."

"[S]ince October 2023... we have gathered eyewitness testimonies and documented hundreds of incidents involving unprecedented and extreme violence... throughout the territory Israel controls, while key politicians and... commanders... openly declared the policies... Countless evidence... reflects the horrifying transformation of the... Israeli system in its treatment of Palestinians."

"At , Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians... work side by side, guided by... defending human rights... [as] a basic human and moral obligation. ...[A] discriminatory apartheid regime ...classifies some ...as privileged ...because we are Jewish, and others as undeserving of ...protection ...because we are Palestinian. Together, we fight for the right we all have to live... without discrimination, violent repression and annihilation."

"We call on the Israeli public and... the international community to... to put an immediate stop to Israel's assault on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and across all areas under Israeli control, using every means available under international law."

"Genocide can rarely be carried out without consent, support, and legitimization from within the perpetrating group. Yet... societies that perpetrate genocide often do not recognize themselves as such."

"[T]he UN warned that people with disabilities... are "at higher risks of dying, becoming injured and acquiring further impairments" as a result of the ongoing Israeli offensive."

"Confronting the... destruction and moral disintegration requires... acknowledging the crimes... [and] commitment to action and... accountability... international and domestic."

"[T]he international community either remains passive or actively supports Israel's crimes."

"This report relies on the legal definition of genocide as outlined in the UN Convention, but adopts a broader analytical framework, drawing on 's original conception as well as historical and sociological research..."

"With regard to the number of Palestinians killed and injured in the Gaza Strip, this report relies on figures published by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. These figures are widely considered reliable... Moreover, they are generally regarded as conservative..."

"Statements by senior Israeli decision-makers... have expressed genocidal intent throughout."

"[T]his section reflects only a partial picture of the scale of harm to... Palestinian life... under Israeli control. We estimate that years of documentation and research will be required to fully assess the scope of destruction that continues... and the long-term consequences... Palestinians... are expected to face in the future."

"The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) report, “Caught in the Crossfire: Civilians, Security and the Crisis of Justice in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Merged Districts” (Lahore: HRCP, 2025), reads like a tragic script for a play the state insists on performing over and over again. The title, “Caught in the Crossfire,” is apt: civilians are literally and figuratively trapped between militants who kill in the name of religion and a government that kills in the name of security. The statistics alone are chilling. In July 2025, 82 militant attacks nationwide—two-thirds of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. By September, 45 attacks in the province killed 54 people, while “security forces reportedly carried out 22 operations… killing 88 militants” but also 24 civilians. The arithmetic of counterterrorism in Pakistan has always been brutal: militants dead, civilians dead, justice dead."

"Confronted with criticism by the United Nations and other international bodies, Pakistan vowed to prevent kidnapping for the purpose of converting members of religious minorities to Islam and to regard conversions of minors forcibly separated from their parents as legally invalid. The Shahdadpur verdict goes in a different direction."

"…blasphemy allegations are increasingly employed as avenues for extortion. Organized entities often manufacture charges to extract financial gain or seize property, leaving both Muslim and non-Muslim victims with limited avenues for recourse, as defending against such allegations frequently invites further persecution."

"There is a new business in Pakistan, and it plays with the life and death of innocent people. It goes like this: hackers post online contents blaspheming Islam in the name of persons who do not even know what is going on. Then they report their victims to the police, who arrest them based on the fabricated blasphemy charges. At this stage, the hackers offer to retract the allegations and tell the police they were based on a “mistake” if the victim pays a significant sum of money. If [the] victims do not pay, [then the] cases go on and they face blasphemy charges which may lead to the death penalty under Pakistani law."

"Our sailing ships like common-sewers we use, And through our distant colonies diffuse The draught of dungeons, and the stench of stews; Whom, when their home-bred honesty is lost, We disembogue on some far Indian coast, Thieves, pandars, palliards, sins of every sort; Those are the manufactures we export."

"You have to remember that the items that have been stolen from the Museum or have been plundered, are not owned by only one person and usually not only by Afghans. It is usually one or two Afghans with five or six Pakistani partners. And the underground stolen art business in Pakistan is just as well organised and it is just as dangerous as the drug business. In fact, I have heard some people say that as far as the end-result is concerned, it’s even more profitable than drugs."

"While I have seen few museum pieces for sale in Pakistan, there are a number of artifacts on the market that have recently been dug up in Afghanistan. Mujahideen commanders in all parts of the country are involved in this illicit activity, most notably in the east near the Hadda museum. An important Buddhist pilgrimage site in the second through seventh centuries, Hadda has been totally stripped of its exquisite clay sculptures in the Gandhara syle, which combines Bactrian, Greco-Roman, and Indian elements. Looted artifacts from Faryab and Balkh provinces in the north allegedly include jewel-encrusted golden crowns and statues, orbs (locally described as "soccer balls") studded with emeralds and all manner of exotic ephemera, as well as fluted marble columns similar to those found at Ai Khanoum in the northeastern province of Takhar. These are being carted away to embellish the houses of the newly powerful, according to witnesses."

"'Asim reported from Abu Razin on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas saying: There is no prescribed punishment for one who has sexual intercourse with an animal."

"Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: If anyone has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill him and kill it along with him. I (Ikrimah) said: I asked him (Ibn Abbas): What offence can be attributed to the animal? He replied: I think he (the Prophet) disapproved of its flesh being eaten when such a thing had been done to it."

"The volumes of fatwas devote pages and pages to an even more exotic subject—namely, what the believer should do with an animal which has been used for intercourse. ... While others may be a bit squeamish in discussing such questions, and a little surprised at encountering them in ‘religious’ books, the ulema have no qualms about discussing such matters and laying down the law on them as much as on any other matter. They regard it as one of their functions to do so."

"Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion."

"Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion."

"In Ida's shady vale a bull appeared, White as the snow, the fairest of the herd; A beauty spot of black there only rose, Betwixt his equal horns and ample brows; The love and wish of all the Cretan cows. The queen beheld him as his head he rear'd; And envied ev'ry leap he gave the herd. A secret fire she nourished in her breast; And hated ev'ry heifer he caress'd. A story known, and known for true, I tell; Nor Crete, though lying, can the truth conceal. She cut him grass (so much can love command) She strok'd, she fed him with her royal hand; Was pleas'd in pastures with the herd to roam, And Minos by the bull was overcome. Cease, Queen, with gems t'adorn thy beauteous brows, The monarch of thy heart no jewel knows. Nor in thy glass compose thy looks and eyes; Secure from all thy charms thy lover lies: Yet trust thy mirror, when it tells thee true, Thou art no heifer to allure his view. Soon wouldst thou quit thy royal diadem To thy fair rivals; to be horned like them. If Minos please, no lover seek to find; If not, at least seek one of human kind. The wretched queen the Cretan court forsakes; In woods and wilds her habitation makes; She curses ev'ry beauteous cow she sees; “Ah, why dost thou my lord and master please! And think'st, ungrateful creature as thou art, With frisking awkardly to gain his heart.” She said; and straight commands with frowning look, To put her, undeserving, to the yoke. Or feigns some holy rites of sacrifice, And sees her rival's death with joyful eyes; Then when the bloody priest has done his part, Pleas'd, in her hand she holds the beating heart; Nor from a scornful taunt can scarce refrain, Go, fool, and strive to please my love again.” Now she would be Europa.—Io now; (One bare a bull, and one was made a cow.) Yet she at last her brutal bliss obtain'd, And in a wooden cow the bull sustained; Fill'd with his seed, accomplish'd her desire, Till, by his form, the son betray'd the sire."

"There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined. But the Penal Code makes the convenient distinction of premeditation. We are living in the era of premeditation and the perfect crime. Our criminals are no longer helpless children who could plead love as their excuse."

"He did not wear his scarlet coat, For blood and wine are red, And blood and wine were on his hands When they found him with the dead, The poor dead woman whom he loved, And murdered in her bed."

"... Then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; ..."

"I saw through my father’s eyes ‘the bravest man I ever hanged’, the soldier who had come home from the South African War and found his wife unfaithful. He carried his little daughter in his arms up the stairs of his North London home, and cut her throat, and then tore down the decorations which had been put up for his return, and took a Union Jack from them and placed it over the child’s body. Then he went to the police and gave himself up. They asked why he had done it. ‘So that she would not grow up like her mother,’ he replied."