What is genocide and is it happening in Gaza?

Rights groups, lawyers and some governments are describing the Gaza war as “genocide” and calling for a ceasefire but Israel, created in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews, vehemently rejects the explosive term.

Israel says it is seeking to wipe out Gaza’s Islamist rulers and free its hostages still held in the occupied Palestinian coastal strip since the Hamas militant attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.

But Israel’s devastating war on Gaza — largely populated by descendants of…