UN expert says they face threats after Israel-Gaza genocide report

Francesca Albani said there were clear indications that Israel had violated three acts of the UN Genocide Convention.

A UN expert who published a report saying there are reasonable grounds to believe Israel committed genocide in its war on Gaza says she was threatened during her mandate. have been received.

Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, presented a report titled “Anatomy of Genocide” to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, which Israel “completely rejected”.

Albany said in the report that there are clear indications that Israel has violated three of the five UN Genocide Conventions in its war on Gaza.

Asked if he received threats because of his work on the report, Albani said: “Yes, I do receive threats. So far I have not understood anything that requires extra precautions. Pressure? Yes, And it doesn’t change either my commitment or the results of my work.

Albany, who has been in office since 2022, did not specify the nature of the threats or who issued them.

“It has been a difficult time,” he said. “I have always been under attack since the beginning of my mandate.”

Israel has criticized Albani, saying it is “declaring the creation and existence of the State of Israel illegal”. Albani denies the charge.

Albany said one of its main findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and troops have deliberately “undermined their protection functions in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people”.

He said that the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from the unveiling of this policy is the genocidal policy of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

He called for an end to the “ongoing Nakba”, referring to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva said the use of the word genocide was “provocative” and said the war was against Hamas, not Palestinian civilians.

Albani, an Italian lawyer and academic, is one of dozens of independent human rights experts commissioned by the United Nations to report on specific topics and crises.

The views of the Special Representatives do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Organization as a whole.

War and Humanitarian Crisis

·       On Thursday morning, Al Jazeera Arabic reported that Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on northern Gaza, including Gaza City and the Shati and Jabalia refugee camps.

·       Also, footage obtained by Al Jazeera on Thursday showed Israeli soldiers shooting dead two Palestinian men who were walking along the coast towards northern Gaza. The two – who were wearing white cloths – were buried by an Israeli bulldozer.

·       About 160 Palestinians were killed and 195 wounded in Israeli attacks between Monday and Wednesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Wednesday, as heavy fighting continued in northern Gaza City.

·       According to OCHA, two-thirds of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are “inactive” while those that are open are either “minimally” or “partially” functional.

·       The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reported on Wednesday that the health care system in northern Gaza had been “largely destroyed” and was “on the brink of collapse” in the south.

Diplomacy and Regional Tensions

·       Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office asked the White House on Wednesday to reschedule a high-level meeting on military plans for the southern Gaza city of Rafah that he abruptly cancelled, apparently because the two allies to ease the tension between

·       In addition, more than 130 parliamentarians in the UK urged the government on Wednesday to immediately suspend export licences for arms transfers to Israel.

·       At least nine people were killed in two separate attacks in southern Lebanon on Wednesday as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued.

·       In Gaza, Spanish military aircraft delivered 26 tons of humanitarian aid on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said, and Madrid called on Israel to open land border crossings to prevent famine.

·       Large crowds have rallied in Moroccan cities to condemn Israel’s attack and call for an immediate ceasefire, according to videos posted online Wednesday.

·       In Jordan, hundreds of people protesting Israel’s war on Gaza gathered near the Israeli embassy in Amman for a fourth day on Wednesday night.

·       Francesca Albany, the UN expert who published a report accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza, said she received threats during her mandate.

·       A US State Department spokesman also accused him of anti-Semitism and rejected the findings.

Violence in the occupied West Bank

·       Wafa news agency reported that the Israeli army has continued to make arrests in various locations in the occupied West Bank in recent hours.

·       According to reports, he arrested two brothers after raiding the town of Abu Dis, east of occupied East Jerusalem. One man was also arrested in the town of Ash Shevakh in Hebron Governorate, while another was arrested after Israeli forces stormed the village of Sirta, west of Salafit.