THE HAGUE:

The world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president said on Monday.

Eighty-six percent of those who voted among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars backed the resolution declaring Israel's "policies and actions in Gaza" had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 UN convention on genocide.

Israel's Foreign Ministry called the statement disgraceful and "entirely based on Hamas' campaign of lies".

Israel has in the past strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and says they are justified as self defence.

It is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague

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