The destruction of the Gaza Strip that has unfolded since October 7, 2023, is unparalleled even among past Israeli crimes. Some estimates say that over 80 percent of material infrastructure has been destroyed, and even Israeli forces admit a death toll of over 70,000. Since the so-called ceasefire began, the Israeli military has continued bulldozing entire neighborhoods, prompting some rights organizations to accuse it of destroying evidence of its crimes.

One Israeli who has refused to look away from these atrocities is Lee Mordechai, a historian of the Eastern Roman Empire and a senior lecturer in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s History Department. He has spent the past two years documenting the war in Gaza through his project Bearing Witness. The initiative systematically collects testimonies, media reports, and other evidence of the violence against civilians, aiming to preserve a factual record of what he calls an ongoing genocide.

In his view, the violence has not ended despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas announced in October. In an interview for Jacobin, he told Elias Feroz how institutional indifference, media silence, and societal normalization allow the atrocities to continue largely unchecked. Explaining his own research, he explains why Israeli academics remain mostly silent and why documenting these events is essential for ensuring historical accountability.