Home / Asia

UN expert accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza, calls for arms embargo

Smoke billows over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on January 7, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

By Hanifa Adan | 26 Mar 2024

The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, presented her report to the UN Human Rights Council, saying there are reasonable grounds to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

"Following nearly six months of the unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza, it is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of and to present my findings," says Francesca in Geneva.

Keep reading

The findings, named The Anatomy Of Genocide, talk of Israel's executive and military leadership and soldiers intentionally distorting the rules of international humanitarian law, distinction, proportionality, and precaution – in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people—by deliberately stretching the definitions of human shields, evacuation orders, warnings, safe zones and medical protections.

"Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent of causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group," she said

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese delivered her 'Anatomy of a Genocide' report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. (AFP)

Francesca adds that Israel has used its protective function as "humanitarian camouflage" with the effect of concealing a pattern of conduct and is a state policy of genocidal violence against Palestinians.

"I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Gaza has been met," she said, citing more than 30,000 Palestinians killed, among other acts.

"I implore member states to abide by their obligations, which start with imposing an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel and so ensure that the future does not continue to repeat itself," she continued.

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said the use of the word genocide was "outrageous" and said the war was against Hamas and not civilians.

Gulf nations such as Qatar, as well as African countries including Algeria and Mauritania, voiced support for Albanese's findings and alarm at the humanitarian situation.

The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".