Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has warned that Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza City aims to make the area uninhabitable as part of a broader plan of “ethnic cleansing.”
Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Monday, Albanese said the Israeli regime is employing unconventional weapons in a desperate effort to forcibly evacuate Palestinians from the city.
“This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable before advancing the ethnic cleansing of that piece of land,” the UN expert stated. She further stressed that Israel’s offensive on Gaza’s largest urban center amounts to “full destruction.”
“It’s happening already. It’s not that this is a future and uncertain event … destroying entire neighborhoods, remnants of buildings where people were seeking shelter,” Albanese noted.
The UN expert stated that the offensive is not about securing territory but about erasing its viability for residents. “The ongoing assault to take the last remnant of Gaza will not only devastate the Palestinians but also endanger the remaining Israeli captives,” the rapporteur added.
Calling the offensive “unlawful,” the UN expert said Israel has no legal grounds to continue its military presence in Gaza.
Albanese cited the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion requiring Israel to dismantle settlements, withdraw troops, stop exploiting Palestinian resources, pay reparations, and facilitate the return of displaced Palestinians.
In her remarks, the UN special rapporteur also said that the ongoing genocide in Gaza is not Israel’s crime alone, but rather a crime by the entire world.
Albanese said many states continue to normalize the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and even profit from the war with unabated arms trade and diplomatic engagement with Tel Aviv. She called this a collapse of the international legal order, where those who oppose the Gaza war are silenced and criminalized.
The remarks come as Israel escalates its genocidal campaign in the besieged Palestinian territory, with Gaza City at the center of the regime’s deadly attacks.
More than 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the strip since Monday morning, including over two dozen in Gaza City. Among the victims were six-year-old twins, highlighting the devastating toll of Israel’s genocidal war.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least three people have died from hunger in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll from starvation to 425, including 125 children.
The death toll from Israel’s genocidal war launched on October 7, 2023, has surpassed 64,900, with nearly 165,000 others injured.
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and NEWS AGENCIES ]
