10 Stages of Genocide of Palestinians of Gaza

August 20, 2025•1,058 words

According to frameworks widely recognized in international genocide prevention efforts, such as those developed by Dr. Gregory H. Stanton of Genocide Watch (a model referenced by the United Nations and other bodies), genocide is a process that unfolds in ten stages. These stages are not strictly linear, they can overlap, occur simultaneously, or vary in order, but they provide a predictive model for understanding how genocides develop.

Here are the ten stages, with brief descriptions:

Classification: Societies divide people into "us versus them" categories based on ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality, creating binary distinctions that lay the groundwork for division.

Symbolization: Names, symbols, or physical markers (e.g., clothing, badges, or labels like "Jew" or "Tutsi") are applied to the classified groups to visibly identify and separate them.

Discrimination: The dominant group uses laws, customs, and political power to deny the targeted group full civil rights, leading to systemic exclusion and inequality.

Dehumanization: The targeted group is equated with animals, vermin, diseases, or subhuman entities (e.g., calling people "cockroaches" or "rats"), stripping them of humanity and justifying harm as "extermination" rather than murder.

Organization: Genocide is planned and coordinated, often by the state or militias, involving the creation of special units, hate groups, or armies to carry out the acts.

Polarization: Extremists drive groups further apart by targeting moderates, spreading propaganda, forbidding intergroup relations, and silencing voices that could bridge divides.

Preparation: Leaders plan the "final solution," identifying victims through lists, segregating them, and arming perpetrators. Euphemisms like "ethnic cleansing" may be used to mask intentions.

Persecution: Victims are identified, separated, and subjected to property expropriation, forced displacement, or confinement in ghettos/camps. Initial killings, torture, and deportations begin.

Extermination: Mass killing ensues, legally defined as genocide under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, with the intent to destroy the group in whole or in part.

Denial: Perpetrators deny the crimes, cover up evidence, blame victims, or minimize the scale, often continuing the psychological destruction of the group's memory and history.

Classification: In this phase, society is split into "us versus them." The legal and administrative structures in Gaza treat Palestinians as a separate, occupied population, thereby classifying them as different from Israelis. While Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank face segregated roads, limited access to resources, and a different legal status under military rule, Israel's Nationality Law, for instance, places a higher priority on Jewish ethno-nationalism. According to UN reports, this is a component of the apartheid system that targets Palestinians.
Symbolization: Identifiers are used to mark groups. In a move reminiscent of Nazi numbering, released detainees from October 7, 2023, incidents were tagged with wrist or ankle bands, and Palestinians are required to carry specific ID cards in order to pass through checkpoints. Segregated infrastructure, like walls and barriers dividing Israeli and Palestinian areas, is one example of a visual marker.
Discrimination is the systematic denial of rights. Palestinians in Gaza face policies akin to apartheid, such as being denied citizenship, having their freedom of movement restricted by checkpoints and blockades, and not having equal access to land, water, and medical care. For example, prior to 2023, 90% of Gaza's water was unsafe for human consumption because of restrictions, and Jewish settlements are given preference in evictions in places like Masafer Yatta and throughout the West Bank, blatant violation of international laws.
Dehumanization: The victims are presented as less than human. Israeli officials have used language that compares Palestinians to savages or vermin, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who have referred on traditional media and social media sites to them as "human animals" and "children of darkness". Legislators and soldiers have repeated this, calling for nuclear strikes or erasure and defending harm as extermination rather than mass murder. By desensitizing the Israeli society, such Dehumanization will become the norm and status quo.
Organization: Genocides require planning, often by state or militias. Israel's military, the IDF, mandates enlistment and arms settlers (e.g., over 700,000 weapons distributed by Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir). Coordinated blockades, sieges, and operations like the proposed "humanitarian city" in Rafah (announced July 2025) involve screening and restricting Palestinians, supported by U.S. funding and arms.
Polarization: By attacking moderates and disseminating false information, extremists deepen divisions. Disinformation is used by Israeli officials and media to polarize the public, restricting intergroup relations and prohibiting dissent. Communities are physically divided by walls and settlements, and moderates who support coexistence are attacked by far-right organizations.
Planning is done, victims are located, and they are divided up. Israel has created lists for targeted attacks, proposed plans for mass emigration or ethnic cleansing Palestinians to "humanitarian cities," and used euphemisms like "evacuation orders" for forced displacement, which affect over 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million residents. Hospitals and aid routes are destroyed in order to get ready for broader ethnic cleansing.
Persecution: Victims experience initial violence, displacement, and confiscation of land. The 2007 blockade of Gaza, dubbed a "open-air prison," has resulted in confinement, forced evictions, and property destruction. Millions of people had been displaced by 2025 as a result of numerous airstrikes, destroyed neighbourhoods, and aid blockades; initial killings and torture had also been documented.
Extermination: Mass murder commences, as defined by the Genocide Convention. By May 2025, over 60,000 Palestinians had been killed (70 percent women and children), and thousands more had perished from malnutrition, dehydration, and illness as a result of intentional fuel and water cuts and the destruction of medical facilities. Actions include sniper killings at aid sites (more than 500 since May 2025), indiscriminate bombings (e.g., 15 strikes killing 334 civilians), and environmental destruction that renders Gaza in ruins.
Denial: Criminals conceal or downplay their crimes. Using terms like "right to defend itself," blaming Hamas, and obstructing investigations, Israel denies genocide. Claiming collateral damage, denying intent, calling individuals and any opposing groups that are against the genocide as anti-semitic and trying to cancel them on social media, and enlisting the help of allies like the United States to veto UN resolutions are some strategies. Evidence is destroyed after an atrocity, and victims are held accountable.