The leading United Nations (UN) expert in Palestinian rights, Francesca Albanese, said Israel is trying to make the city of Gaza uninhabitable in its attack on the largest urban area of the enclave and is jeopardizing the lives of Israeli hostages.
“Israel is bombarding with unconventional weapons … is trying to remove the Palestinians forcibly. Why? This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to become uninhabitable before advancing with the ethnic cleansing of this piece of land,” Albanese told reporters in Geneva.
The Israeli Mission in Geneva was not immediately available for comments.
Israel states that the offensive to take control of the city of Gaza is part of a plan to definitely defeat the Palestinian militant group Hamas and that he warned the civilians to go to the south to a designated humanitarian zone.
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However, the UN and several countries claim that these tactics are equivalent to a forced mass displacement and that the conditions in the humanitarian zone are terrible, with food shortages.
Italian lawyer Albanese acts as a special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of the dozens of experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, consisting of 47 members, to report specific global issues.
“The ongoing attack to take the last remnant of Gaza will not only devastate the Palestinians, but will also endanger the remaining Israeli hostages,” said Albanese.
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She accused Israel of genocide and said the international community is complicit.
The campaign of almost two years at the Palestinian enclave has killed more than 64,000 people, according to local authorities.
Some human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, also accused Israel of committing genocide, but the UN did not take this step. In the past, the UN authorities said it is up to international courts to determine genocide.
Israel rejects the prosecution, citing its right to self -defense after the attack of Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israeli data.
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In July, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for his actions, which he described as the cause of illegitimate proceedings against Israelis in the International Criminal Court.
Albanese said his attempts to travel to New York to the UN General Assembly in September to deliver a report do not seem promising.
