WASHINGTON
A growing number of young Americans think Israel’s assault on Gaza constitutes a genocide as they call on the Biden administration to support a cease-fire to save lives.
As the International Court of Justice (ICJ) moves forward on genocide charges against Israel for its war conduct in the besieged Gaza Strip, polling data released last Wednesday indicates that those aged 18-29 are far more likely to agree that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza than other age groups.
Forty-nine percent said so compared to a little more than one-third of the general public, according to data from the Economist/YouGov poll.
Ara Roslop, a 21-year-old student at the American University in Washington, D.C., told Anadolu that he has been to the occupied West Bank and has Palestinian friends whose families live in Gaza.
Asked if he thinks what is happening in Gaza constitutes a genocide, Roslop responded: “Yes, I do. Or at least ethnic cleansing, and at least war crimes.”
He called on the Biden administration to support a cease-fire, adding there should be a “serious effort to rebuild Gaza.”
What is happening in Gaza is “absolutely insane,” he added.
Will Belluche, 21, who studies at the same university, said he has been following Gaza-related news on social media and also in newspapers, such as Israel’s Haaretz daily.
“I have been following the ICJ’s ruling, and I am not a legal expert about genocide,” he said, referring to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands, which delivered an interim ruling last week in a genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa.
“But it's just so terrible to see (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's government trying to push all the Palestinians out of Gaza.”
He said there is mass targeting of civilians and also the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, noting the hospitals and universities destroyed.
“I think that everybody should be free. I think there should be a free Palestine. I think that people have the right to live and the right to life,” he added.
Sydney Packim said she is a “little uneducated” on what is happening in Gaza but thinks “it's devastating.”
“I would consider it probably an attempt at genocide, personally, against the Palestinian people,” she said.
“I think something needs to be done because it's not right. It's not right. And I don't think that we can continue to support a state that encourages genocide,” she added.
Michael Caron, 20, who is also studying at the American University, said he has been watching what is happening in Gaza online
“Israel has completely seized and taken over Gaza. They carpet bombed the cities from an attack that happened on Oct. 7, even though this is something that's gone on for over seven years,” he said.
“I think that a genocide is what's happening, frankly,” he said, adding he is disappointed with US policies.
Sunita, 18, from the same university said she found out what was happening in Gaza about a year ago from a friend, and after Oct. 7, she found out more about all the things that have been happening for the past 75 years.
“I think it constitutes a genocide,” she said. “People are dying. Thousands of people are dying.”
“What's happening there is awful,” she added, calling for a cease-fire.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 26,637 Palestinians and injuring 65,387. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
The ICJ issued its interim ruling on Friday in which it ordered Israel to take "all measures within its power" to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but fell short of mandating a cease-fire.
South Africa brought the case late last month and asked the court to grant emergency measures to end the bloodshed in Gaza. The vast majority of the confirmed dead, roughly two-thirds, have been women and children.
Thousands more are assumed dead under the rubble after Israel's war laid waste to wide swathes of the coastal enclave.
