Israel and its allies strongly reject the accusation. They say the civilian casualties in Gaza are not an intentional act of genocide, but are an inevitable, if tragic, byproduct of war. And they stress that the war is the result of the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas, an organization that has often expressed a desire to exterminate Jews and expel them from the Holy Land – which itself would constitute genocide.

Arguing in favour of the resolution is Penny Green. She is the Director of the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary University of London.

Arguing against the resolution is Arsen Ostrovsky. He’s a human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum. He is also a Senior Fellow at Misgav Institute.

“I think it’s astonishing that we are even having this debate today after eight months of a genocidal war in which at least 35,000 Palestinians have been killed.”
-Penny Green

“For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy. For Hamas, every civilian death is a strategy.”
-Arsen Ostrovsky