Amnesty International on Wednesday said that it had gathered “sufficient evidence to believe” that Israel’s conduct during the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against the Palestinian people.

A former Israeli defense minister is accusing his country of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.

Amnesty International accused the state of Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war in a report published on Thursday, an allegation Israeli leaders have repeatedly denied. The London-based human rights group said it reached the conclusion after months of analysing incidents and statements of Israeli officials.

The declaration by one of the world’s most prominent rights organizations is likely to intensify a debate that has raged for months over Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

Amnesty said the United States and other allies of Israel could be complicit in genocide, and called on them to halt arms shipments. “Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide.

The military goal of fighting Hamas does not preclude Israel's U.S.-backed offensive from involving genocidal policies, the watchdog group said Wednesday.