THE UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine issued a report late last Monday accusing Israel of a systematic campaign of forced displacement, destruction and acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
In the report, which was submitted to the UN General Assembly, Francesca Albanese described the ‘long-term, intentional, state-organised forced displacement and replacement’ of Palestinians, particularly following the escalation of violence post October 7th, 2023.
The report focused on ‘genocidal intent, contextualising the situation within a decades-long process of territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing aimed at liquidating the Palestinian presence in Palestine’.
‘The violence that Israel has unleashed against the Palestinians post-7 October is not happening in a vacuum, but is part of a long-term intentional, systematic, state-organised forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians,’ Albanese warned.
The report also accused Israel of obstructing international investigation efforts, including denying the entry of fact-finding teams from the UN and the International Criminal Court.
‘The persistent denial of access to United Nations mechanisms and investigators of the International Criminal Court (ICC) may constitute obstruction of justice, in defiance of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order that Israel allow international investigators to enter Gaza and take measures to ensure the preservation of evidence,’ it said.
She noted that the ongoing ‘genocide is doubtlessly the consequence of the exceptional status and protracted impunity that has been afforded to Israel’.
‘Israel has systematically and flagrantly violated international law, including (UN) Security Council resolutions and ICJ orders,’ she said. ‘This has emboldened the hubris of Israel and its defiance of international law.’
‘As the world watches the first live-streamed settler-colonial genocide, only justice can heal the wounds that political expedience has allowed to fester,’ she added.
‘Gaza has been made unfit for human life’
The report also drew attention to the magnitude of destruction in Gaza, saying it has prompted allegations of ‘domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, cultural genocide and ecocide’.
It estimated that nearly 40 million tons of debris, including unexploded ordnance and human remains, contaminate the ecosystem.
Additionally, more than 140 temporary waste sites and 340,000 tons of untreated wastewater and sewage overflow have created breeding grounds for diseases such as hepatitis A, respiratory infections, diarrhoea and skin diseases.
‘As Israeli leaders promised, Gaza has been made unfit for human life,’ the report said.
The report also mentioned Israeli-imposed restrictions on resources essential for Palestinian survival, such as food, water and medical supplies.
‘Systematic attacks on Gaza food sovereignty indicate an intent to destroy its population through starvation,’ it said, recalling Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s remarks in August stating that starving the entire Gaza population was ‘justified and moral’.
Escalating genocidal risk in West Bank
The report warned that violence and systematic targeting are spreading beyond Gaza, raising serious concerns of genocidal risk in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have reportedly conducted over 5,500 raids in the West Bank, with hundreds of Palestinians killed and thousands injured.
Albanese noted that this surge in violence has been fuelled by violent settlers, often supported by Israeli forces, and said these patterns echo the severity of Gaza’s devastation.
She cited alarming instances of Palestinian children being systematically targeted, with at least 169 children killed since October 2023, nearly 80% of whom were shot in the head or torso.
‘The devastation inflicted on Gaza is now metastasising to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,’ she warned, adding that some officials, including Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have publicly supported harsh treatment and mass arrests of Palestinians, with 9,400 currently detained under severe conditions.
States ‘must
intervene now’
Albanese called on the international community to act decisively, saying ‘member states must intervene now to prevent new atrocities that will further scar human history’.
She urged states to use all their political leverage – commencing with a full arms embargo and sanctions – so that Israel stops the assault against the Palestinians, accepts a ceasefire and fully withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territory in line with the ICJ advisory opinion of July 19th.
She asked them to formally recognise Israel as an ‘apartheid state and persistent violator of international law’ while supporting independent and thorough investigations.
The rapporteur also called on states to ensure unhindered humanitarian assistance to Gaza and full financing and protection of UNRWA.
Lastly, she urged the ICC Prosecutor to investigate the commission of the crimes of genocide and apartheid by Israel.
The Israeli army has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.
Over 43,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 101,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
Norway’s government on Tuesday said it will put forward a UN General Assembly resolution to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a judgement on Israel’s obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by international groups, including the United Nations and states.
This came in response to Israeli parliament’s decision to ban the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which could affect its work in Gaza.
The government will also ask the ICJ to investigate other obstacles faced by other UN agencies in their aid work over the past year, Norway confirmed in a statement.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide warned that banning the UN agency would make the entire Middle East even more unstable.
‘We believe this violates Israel’s obligations under international law. It also undermines the work for a viable Palestinian state and a two-state solution,’ Eide added.
‘With this initiative, Norway wants to establish that no country can rise above its obligations under international law.
‘We see similar trends in other countries – that leaders try to undermine humanitarian law and aid work in situations of crisis and conflict. We must stop this development,’ expressed Eide.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store emphasised in the same statement that the international community cannot accept that the UN, international humanitarian organisations and states ‘face systematic obstacles to being able to work in Palestine and provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians under occupation.
‘It undermines the Palestinians’ right to vital aid. We must react,’ he added.
Store pointed out that the Israeli government makes it difficult for the Palestinians to get vital help and basic services, such as health care and school.
‘The Knesset’s decision, which in practice makes it impossible for UNRWA to work in Palestine, is a decision that will affect Palestinian civilians who live in deep need,’ he said, adding the decision could have ‘dramatic consequences for millions of civilians’.
Since Israel launched war on Gaza on October 8th nearly 43,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 100,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
More than a year into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide against Palestinians at the ICJ.
