Gaza situation: Mahama was wrong to call it genocide – Israeli Ambassador

Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Roey Gilad, has stated categorically that President John Dramani Mahama was wrong to describe the situation in Gaza as genocide committed by Israel.

Speaking at a press briefing at the Israeli Embassy in Accra, Ambassador Gilad addressed the latest developments in the Middle East, including the situations in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, while reaffirming Israel’s position on what it considers necessary to achieve stability and security in the region.

He was responding to questions about President Mahama’s recent interview with Turkish media, TRT World, in which the Ghanaian leader described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as genocide. Mahama had also used similar language in his address to the 80th United Nations General Assembly in September 2025.

While acknowledging Ghana’s longstanding relationship with Israel, Ambassador Gilad disagreed with President Mahama’s position, insisting that the characterisation of Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide was wrong.

“I think President Mahama, whom we have a lot of huge respect for as an international and African leader, however, we think he was wrong at the UN and I think he was wrong yesterday. I heard very clearly the interview he gave to TRT and I think he’s wrong in the sense that the definition of genocide is not the number of casualties and I do not deny that the number of casualties in Gaza was big, but the definition of genocide is the intention,” he stated.

According to Ambassador Gilad, the legal determination of genocide rests primarily on the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected national, ethnic, racial or religious group. He therefore argued that the number of people killed, although significant, does not by itself establish genocide.

He maintained that Israel’s military campaign was launched as a response to the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and argued that its objective was not the destruction or annihilation of the Palestinian population.

“According to international human law, what defines genocide is the intention of one side to annihilate, to destroy completely the other side, and Israeli activity in Gaza following the 7th of October was a defensive one.” he stated.

Ambassador Gilad nevertheless acknowledged the heavy human cost of the war and the extensive civilian suffering in Gaza. He described the loss of life and what he referred to as collateral damage as painful, but maintained that Israel did not intend to destroy the Palestinian people.

“Indeed, the total human life, what is known as collateral damage, was big, painful even for us. However, there was no intention whatsoever to destroy, to annihilate the Palestinian people and in that sense I think the President is wrong. And I want to be very clear about it,” he added.

The scale of the Palestinian death toll has, however, remained one of the central issues in the international debate over Israel’s conduct of the war. As of August 25, 2026, Palestinian medical authorities reported that 73,431 Palestinians had been killed and 174,437 injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The figures include 1,296 deaths recorded since the ceasefire that took effect in October 2025.

The United Nations continues to attribute the latest casualty figures to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, while noting that the figures have not all been independently verified by the UN. OCHA’s reporting also documents continued civilian casualties, displacement and restrictions on humanitarian access.

President Mahama’s position has been particularly outspoken. At the 80th UN General Assembly in September 2025, he argued that the international community had spent nearly two years avoiding direct language about what was happening in Gaza and called for the killing and what he described as genocide to end.

In his August 21, 2026 interview with TRT World’s Bigger Than Five, Mahama again described the situation in Gaza as genocide while discussing Africa’s broader position on global affairs, international justice and what he considers double standards in the international system.

The disagreement between Accra and Tel Aviv therefore centres on the interpretation of Israel’s military campaign, particularly whether the scale of Palestinian deaths and destruction should be understood within the broader context of the conflict or whether Israel’s conduct demonstrates the specific intent required under international law to establish genocide.

Ambassador Gilad’s comments come as the Gaza conflict remains the subject of intense international scrutiny, with questions over civilian protection, humanitarian access, accountability and the legal responsibility of parties to the conflict continuing to dominate diplomatic discussions.

Source: Diplomatic Times