Israel's imposition of measures intended to prevent births in Gaza
By Maximilian Millington
Genocide Watch
November 7, 2026
Al Basma IVF Center was struck by an Israeli shell in 2024. Credit: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
Legal framework
Under Article II (d) of the Genocide Convention “genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: […] imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”. For this act of genocide, the evidentiary threshold does not require proving the achievement, but proving the intent to achieve a specific outcome (the mental element or mens rea) and the proof of the imposition of the measures (the material element or actus reus). In the trial of Jean Paul Akayesu, the ICTR interpreted paragraph (d) as referring to physical measures, such as “sexual mutilation, the practice of sterilization, forced birth control, separation of the sexes and prohibition of marriages,” but the Court also expanded the interpretation of paragraph (d) to include that measures intended to prevent births can be mental, such as traumas inflicted upon members of the group that hinder procreation.
Not only could the prevention of births be considered an act of genocide, but also a violation of the human rights to life under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Moreover, reproductive violence may constitute other genocidal acts under the Genocide Convention, such as Article II paragraph (b) “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” and paragraph (c) “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” However, the aim of this report is to narrow its focus on the genocidal act under Article II (d), while focusing on Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza.
Intent to prevent Palestinian births and incitement to commit the act
The intention to prevent Palestinian births has been documented in statements by Israeli state leadership, which reflects the state’s policy. These include statements that explicitly target Palestinian women and children, such as an X post by the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and a Member of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Nissim Vaturi, viewed by more than a million people, in which he tweeted to “erase Gaza … do not leave a child there.”
Additionally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich have repeatedly referred to the biblical story of Amalek. In the biblical passage (I Samuel 15:3), referred to by the Israeli Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, God calls on King Saul to “attack Amalek” and to “spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings” (emphasis added). During a press conference on October 28, 2023, with former Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, Prime Minister Netanyahu called on Israelis to “remember what Amalek has done to you, we have been commanded. And we do remember.” And a week later, in a letter addressed to Israeli soldiers and officers and published on X, Netanyahu called for Israeli soldiers to “remember what Amalek did to you.” In April 2024, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich publicly called for annihilation, saying that “there are no half measures. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation. ‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven’ – there’s no place under heaven.” The reference to Amalek illustrates the Israeli state policy, since a pattern of speech with references to Amalek unfolded amongst Israeli soldiers and senior commanders after Netanyahu’s press conference and letter to Israeli soldiers.
Israeli politicians, security advisors, and military personnel, who are not likely to face legal consequences, have been more blatant in their genocidal rhetoric aimed at pregnant women and newborns. Since they are not in governmental or political positions that reflect state policy, their statements do not directly constitute state policy on their own, but rather constitute acts of direct and public incitement to genocide, an independent crime punishable under Article III (c) of the Genocide Convention and which also serves as circumstantial evidence of state incitement when condoned or endorsed by the State. For example, Captain Elad Gabian, from the Carmeli Brigade, wrote in a Facebook post that “they need to be exterminated along with their families down to the last one. To clarify, their children also need to die; they suck this evil from the breasts of their pig mothers and will pass this evil on their children as well.” In another example, Moshe Feiglin, a former Member of the Knesset and leader of the Zehut party, stated in an interview with Channel 14 that “every baby in Gaza is an enemy.” This type of genocidal rhetoric and incitement to genocide has been, at least implicitly, condoned by the Israeli government. The incitements to genocide have not been prosecuted by Israeli state officials, but, even worse than that, the Israeli state officials implicitly condone the genocidal rhetoric or even reward it. For example, the reservist Ezra Yachin gave a genocidal “motivational speech” to Israeli soldiers shared as a video on social media, in which he called to “erase them, their families, mothers, and children. These animals can no longer live.” Ezra Yachin received a certificate of thanks and commendation by Israeli President Isaac Herzog five months later and was invited as a torch bearer on Israel’s National Independence Day ceremony. In another example, Eliyahu Yosian, from the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, which maintains strong links to the government and Israeli national security circles, said in an interview broadcast on Channel 14 that “the woman is an enemy, the baby is an enemy, and the pregnant woman is an enemy.” These examples of genocidal rhetoric targeted at infants, children, and pregnant women fit into the pattern of genocidal rhetoric among Israeli politicians, government ministers, and Israeli Defense Forces personnel, who consistently state that there are “no innocent,” “no civilians,” or “no uninvolved” Palestinians and make repeated references to the biblical Amalek.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro, the International Court of Justice established that if the genocidal intent cannot be established from state policy documents, it can be established from a pattern of conduct if genocide is the only reasonable inference that can be drawn. Thus, Israel’s intent to implement measures to prevent Palestinian births can also be derived from Israel’s pattern of conduct in Gaza. The United Nations (UN) International Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (hereafter the Commission) concluded that “the destruction of the Basma IVF clinic was a measure intended to prevent births,” as the Commission found genocidal intent to be “the only inference that could reasonably be drawn from the acts in question,” especially due to the absence of any evidence that the IVF clinic was a legitimate military target. Furthermore, the systematic destruction of reproductive healthcare facilities in Gaza, and the imposition of the siege and obstruction of humanitarian assistance, food, electricity, and medical supplies, illustrate a pattern of conduct with the genocidal intent to implement measures to prevent Palestinian births.
The measures imposed to achieve the prevention of Palestinian births
The Commission found that “Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy the health-care system of Gaza,” which has also had a detrimental impact on Palestinian women’s reproductive healthcare and the healthcare of newborns. According to the Commission, facilities in hospitals and clinics for reproductive healthcare “were directly targeted or forced to cease operations,” and several maternity wards were forced to close. In addition, Gaza’s largest fertility clinic, Basma IVF Center, was targeted in December 2023, and around 4,000 embryos destroyed, leaving Palestinian couples without any future possibilities to consult the facility. The Commission concluded that “Israeli authorities have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group, including by imposing measures intended to prevent births.”
According to the Commission, proof of the deliberate imposition of measures intended to prevent births by Israel include:
Systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities, including maternity and neonatal facilities and the IVF clinic.
Imposition of siege and preventing humanitarian assistance, including medications and medical equipment necessary to ensure safe pregnancies, deliveries, and neonatal care.
The deliberate imposition of measures intended to prevent births is sufficient to prove that the genocidal act has occurred, since Article II (d) does not require any result from the measures to meet the legal threshold. Nevertheless, the measures imposed have resulted in a drop in births. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has recorded a 41% drop in recorded births in 2025 in comparison to 2022, and, within the first nine months of the genocide, miscarriages rose at least 300%, according to the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association. In November 2023, Oxfam reported that newborns up to three months old were dying from diarrhea, hypothermia, dehydration, and infections due to the collapse of the healthcare system and the conditions of life. More than a year later, in January 2025, the UN reported that eight newborns had died of hypothermia within the timespan of a month. Doctors and others from Gaza reported that they had to perform ordinarily unnecessary hysterectomies in an attempt to save the lives of women who have just given birth due to heavy bleeding and the critical shortage of medical equipment and supplies as a result of the siege, leaving those women unable to have more children in the future. As reflected in the Akayesu case for the mental measures imposed, the physical measures imposed upon Palestinian women have led to irreparable physical harm that partially ceases reproductive capacity within the group.
Conclusion
A group’s capacity to reproduce can be destroyed without a single act of sterilization. Conditions can be created in which reproduction is medically almost impossible by destroying maternity wards, neonatal units, and fertility clinics, and by blocking the medicines, medical equipment, and electricity that safe pregnancy and childbirth require. Such acts constitute an “imposed measure” under Article II (d). The evidence from Gaza illustrates how such measures operate in practice, and how they also meet the legal threshold of “measures intended to prevent births within the group” by being executed with the specific intent to prevent births alongside the dolus specialis to destroy the group in whole or in part, fulfilling the requirements of Article II (d).
Genocide Watch recommends:
State Parties to the Genocide Convention:
Fulfill the duty to prevent genocide under Article I of the Genocide Convention, employing all diplomatic, political, and economic measures reasonably available to influence prevention efforts as soon as a risk of genocide becomes apparent.
Suspend arms exports to Israel and any other form of military assistance in violation of the Genocide Convention and International Humanitarian Law.
Enable and support unimpeded humanitarian access, prioritizing maternal, neonatal, and reproductive healthcare supplies, including obstetric equipment, blood products, incubators, medication, food, clean water, fuel, and electricity for medical facilities.
Fulfill the duty to punish genocide under Article I of the Genocide Convention.
Cooperate with the International Criminal Court and support it by executing arrest warrants and refraining from sanctioning, attacking, or obstructing the Court and its officials.
Use domestic and universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators of the crimes committed in Gaza and those who incited genocide.
