The UN rapporteur sees “reasonable indications” to conclude that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

A report by the UN Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanesewhich will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday the 26th, concludes that there are “reasonable indications” to conclude that Israel is committing intentional genocide in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

The document of 25 pages published this Monday, after analyzing Israel’s patterns of violence and policies in its attack on Gaza, concludes that Israel deliberately at least three “genocidal acts” defined as such by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

This would be the “murder of members of a group”killing at least 30,000 Palestinians in five months of conflict, “serious physical or mental harm to members of a group”And “intentionally causing in a group conditions intended to lead to its partial or complete physical destruction”.

Serious physical and mental damage would be proven, among other things, by the more than 70,000 Palestinians were injuredor by deliberately causing shortages of medical supplies which meant that in the most dramatic cases amputations had to be carried out without anesthesia.

Creating living conditions for the ‘physical destruction’ of the Palestinians, the Albanian report defends, would be proven by the destruction of 77% of healthcare facilities at the margin: 68% of the telecommunications infrastructure or 60% of the homes and educational institutions, including all universities.

More broadly, Israel’s actions are driven by a genocidal logic essential to his colonial project in Palestine,” emphasizes the report of the Italian expert, who also recalls the existence of “practices aimed at Ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians” in the period 1947-1949 and in 1967.

The deliberate nature of Israeli actions that could constitute genocide is proven, according to the report, by events such as the rhetoric from senior Israeli officialsoften repeated by religious leaders, journalists, artists, political commentators and other actors.

In this sense, the report quotes statements such as that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to the Palestinians as “monster”from President Isaac Herzog blaming the entire Palestinian nation for the October 7 attacks, or from Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant describing the people of Palestine as “human animals”.

“Calls for the destruction of violence are aimed at serving troops, and provide clear evidence of direct and public incitement to genocide,” the report points out.

The document, titled “Anatomy of a Genocide”also condemns the use of “humanitarian camouflage” of Israel to commit these abuses with alleged justifications in international humanitarian law to provide a basis for its offensive in Gaza. Albanese gives as an example the Israeli argument that Hamas is using the entire population of Gaza as a human shield, its strategy to connect all types of facilities to that armed group (including hospitals, mosques, schools and UN buildings) or the entire strip as one to be considered. a ‘military objective’.

The report includes data such as that used during five months of military campaign by Israel 25,000 tons of explosives against Gazaequal to two atomic bombs.

In view of its conclusions, the UN Rapporteur’s report will ask the Human Rights Council to a Immediate arms embargo against Israeland take steps toward an independent investigation into human rights violations in Gaza.

It will also insist on taking measures to ensure the repair of the strip, including the repair full payment by Israel and “complicit states” in the reconstruction of Gazaand the deployment of an “international protective presence” on that Palestinian territory to prevent violence against the population from continuing.

The report is published exactly two months after publication International Court of Justice (ICJ)the UN court in The Hague has asked Israel in a preliminary ruling to take all necessary measures to prevent a genocide in Gaza, although it has not yet determined whether such genocide exists or not in the Strip, as such a conclusion could take years of litigation.