A UN human rights expert says he believes Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Expert Francesca Albanese is scheduled to present a report on the matter at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
However, Israel has since rejected the report. Israel’s ambassador to the UN criticized it as an outrageous distortion of the Genocide Convention and an “obscene distortion of reality.”.
The report on the massacre comes as international pressure mounts on Israel to end the war in Gaza and provide more protection for civilians.
Genocide is a specific legal term. Albanese’s report says that some of its features are met. That is, there is reason to believe that the genocidal activity in Gaza has reached the level of determination of ‘genocide’.
According to the BBC, expert Albanese said in his report entitled ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’ that Israel acted with the intention of destroying the Palestinians as a whole group or in part. which is a key feature of the Genocide Convention.
Albanese, in particular, cited Israel’s violation of three articles of the UN Genocide Convention. 1. killing group members; 2. causing serious physical or mental harm to members of the group; and 3. a deliberate attack on the way of life of the group calculated to destroy it in whole or in part.
Israel’s attack on Gaza has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians so far, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The bombing of populated areas in Gaza and the blocking of aid (which, according to the United Nations, has brought Gaza to the brink of famine) are evidence of an intent to destroy a group, UN human rights expert Albanese said in the report.
Many prominent UN aid agencies have warned that no place in Gaza is safe. People there are now eating animal feed or grass. Children are being treated without anesthesia.
All aid agencies say Israel is blocking critical aid deliveries. Many countries are skeptical of Israel’s allegations that the United Nations is delaying aid delivery.
Still, many may not like the language the UN human rights expert uses in his report. But what he says in the report will add a new dimension to international pressure on Israel to change its behavior in the war.
