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Strikes across Gaza kill at least 31 as international scholars accuse Israel of genocide

Published: 02 Sep. 2025, 09:43

Displaced Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip flee with their belongings along Al-Rasheed Street, west of Gaza City, on Sept. 1. According to the UN, around 90 percent of the population or 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced since the start of the conflict. [EPA/YONHAP]

Israel launched strikes across the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 31 people as it presses ahead with a major offensive in the territory's largest city, according to health officials. Leading genocide scholars, meanwhile, accused Israel of genocide, allegations the government vehemently rejects.

Airstrikes and artillery shelling have echoed through Gaza City since Israel declared it a combat zone last week. On the city’s outskirts and in the Jabaliya refugee camp, residents have observed explosive-laden robots demolishing buildings.

“Another merciless night in Gaza City,” said Saeed Abu Elaish, a Jabaliya-born medic sheltering in the northwestern side of the city.

Hospitals in Gaza said at least 31 people were killed by Israeli fire on Monday, more than half of them women and children. At least 13 people were killed in Gaza City, where Israel has carried out several previous large-scale raids since Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel to ignite the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group — now largely reduced to a guerrilla organization — operates in densely-populated areas.

Gaza City residents, many displaced by war multiple times, now face the twin threats of combat and hunger. The world’s leading authority on food crises said last month that it was in the throes of famine — a crisis driven by ongoing fighting and Israel's blockade, magnified by repeated mass displacement and the collapse of food production.

A total of 63,557 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says another 160,660 people have been wounded. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up around half the dead.

Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza Strip move with their belongings along the Sea Road, in Gaza City on Sept. 1. [AP/YONHAP]

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but staffed by medical professionals. UN agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of war casualties. Israel disputes them, but hasn't provided its own toll.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and took 251 people hostage. Forty-eight hostages are still inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were released in cease-fires or other deals.

The largest professional organization of scholars studying genocide said Monday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Israel, which was established in the wake of the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews and others were killed, vehemently rejects the allegation. It says it takes every measure to avoid harming civilians and is fighting a war of self-defense after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, which Israel says was itself a genocidal act.

A resolution from the International Association of Genocide Scholars — which has around 500 members worldwide, including a number of Holocaust experts — said that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide,” as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze in buildings in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City following intense Israeli airstrikes on the city, in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 29. [UPI/YONHAP]

The resolution was supported by 86 percent of those who voted. The organization didn’t release the specifics of the voting.

“People who are experts in the study of genocide can see this situation for what it is,” Melanie O’Brien, the organization’s president and a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, told The Associated Press.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry called it “an embarrassment to the legal profession and to any academic standard.” It said the determination was “entirely based on Hamas’ campaign of lies.”

In July, two prominent Israeli rights groups — B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel — said that their country is committing genocide in Gaza. The organizations don't reflect mainstream thinking in Israel, but it marked the first time that local Jewish-led organizations have made such accusations.

International human rights groups have also leveled the allegation.

Israeli troops on armored personnel carriers (APCs) are staged along the Gaza Strip border on Aug. 26. Amid continued fighting inside the Gaza Strip Israel's full attack on Gaza City looming, U.S. President Donald Trump has said the war in Gaza should end in a matter of ″two to three weeks.″ [UPI/YONHAP]

Thousands of Israelis gathered for the funeral of Idan Shtivi, one of two hostages whose remains were recovered in a military operation last week. A private funeral was held for Ilan Weiss, the other captive.

Some mourners expressed anger at the government for not reaching a deal with Hamas to end the fighting and return the remaining captives.

“It is very, very infuriating that no one, no one from this government stands up and says enough,” said Ami Dagan, a mourner from Rishon Letzion.

“It’s a horror, it’s profound sadness and grief beyond words to describe the anger, the insult to the hostages, the insult to the fallen, the insult to the soldiers sent once again to Gaza," said Ruti Taro, another mourner. “No one knows why, except for the power-hungry ruler.”

Many Israelis accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war for political purposes, and mass protests calling for a cease-fire and hostage release have swelled in recent weeks .

An activist flotilla bound for Gaza left Barcelona hours after a last-minute delay caused by stormy weather.

Hundreds of Jews and Arabs hold placards calling for the Israel-Hamas war to end and photos of starving children in Gaza at a protest in Habima Square in Tel Aviv on Aug. 23. [UPI/YONHAP]

The Global Sumud Flotilla, consisting of around 20 boats with participants from 44 countries, had earlier set sail and then turned back, with organizers citing safety concerns. The expedition includes climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who took part in a previous flotilla that was intercepted in July.

The flotilla is the largest attempt yet to symbolically break Israel's blockade of Gaza. All previous ones have been intercepted at sea by Israeli forces. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms and that there are multiple other channels for sending aid to Gaza.

Israel has taken steps to further restrict the delivery of food to northern Gaza as it presses ahead with its latest offensive in Gaza City.

AP