Israel’s offensive in Gaza is against international law, says a UN expert

“Israel has done a certain number of completely illegal, completely illicit things,” assured Francesca Albanese.

The comments by Albanese, an Italian jurist and UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, come as Israel faces a complaint filed by South Africa at the UN International Court of Justice, accusing it of “genocide”.

If Israel has the right to defend itself, international humanitarian law must be respected “to protect people who are not actively involved in the fighting: civilians, prisoners of war, the sick and the wounded,” he added.

We must distinguish fighters from civilians and ensure attacks are proportionate, Albanese said.

“Instead, we saw more than 100 days of incessant bombing — the first two weeks with 6,000 bombs a week, 2,000-pound bombs, in highly populated areas,” he said.

“Most of the hospitals no longer function properly. Many of them, the largest ones, have been closed, bombed or taken over by the army. People are now dying not only because of the bombs, but also because “there are no enough health infrastructure” to treat them,” the expert complained.

Special Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Albanese “strongly condemned” the violence perpetrated by Hamas which, in her opinion, could constitute crimes against humanity, while maintaining that “nothing justifies what Israel did”.

2024-01-18 21:28:00
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