United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese underlined on Wednesday that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that Israel is committing the crime of "genocide" against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The rapporteur noted that while it was not her position to judge whether countries providing arms to Israel are complicit in the act of genocide, these arms shipments contravene the ruling of the International Court of Justice in January.
The rapporteur pointed out that Israel committed three acts of genocide against the Palestinians since the onslaught on Gaza started last October, underscoring that "flagrant" and "systematic" slaughter of Palestinian civilians, "obliteration" of vital civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, and deliberate starvation of Palestinian people represent "war crimes against humanity." Albanese stressed that Israeli actions in the enclave demonstrate its intent to "eradicate" the entire Palestinian population or a "significant part of it."
