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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241029-un-rapporteur-israel-carrying-out-settler-colonial-genocide-against-palestinians/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">UN rapporteur: Israel carrying out 'settler-colonial genocide' against Palestinians</h1>October 29, 2024</div><div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element"><br></div><div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">The UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine
issued a report late yesterday accusing Israel of a systematic campaign
of forced displacement, destruction and acts of genocide against
Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.</div><div class="gmail-content"><div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<p>In the report, which was submitted to the UN General Assembly,
Francesca Albanese described the “long-term, intentional,
state-organised forced displacement and replacement” of Palestinians,
particularly following 7 October, 2023.</p>
<p>The report focused on “genocidal intent, contextualising the
situation within a decades-long process of territorial expansion and
ethnic cleansing aimed at liquidating the Palestinian presence in
Palestine.”</p>
<p>“The violence that Israel has unleashed against the Palestinians
post-7 October is not happening in a vacuum, but is part of a long-term
intentional, systematic, state-organised forced displacement and
replacement of the Palestinians,” Albanese warned.</p>
<p>The report also accused Israel of obstructing international
investigation efforts, including denying the entry of fact-finding teams
from the UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC).</p>
<p>“The persistent denial of access to United Nations mechanisms and
investigators of the International Criminal Court (ICC) may constitute
obstruction of justice, in defiance of the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) order that Israel allow international investigators to
enter Gaza and take measures to ensure the preservation of evidence,” it
said.</p>
<p>She noted that the ongoing “genocide is doubtlessly the consequence
of the exceptional status and protracted impunity that has been afforded
to Israel.”</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241029-unrwa-ban-could-kill-more-children-in-gaza-unicef-says/">UNRWA ban could kill more children in Gaza, UNICEF says</a></strong></p>
<p>“Israel has systematically and flagrantly violated international law,
including (UN) Security Council resolutions and ICJ orders,” she said.
“This has emboldened the hubris of Israel and its defiance of
international law.”</p>
<p>“As the world watches the first live-streamed settler-colonial
genocide, only justice can heal the wounds that political expedience has
allowed to fester,” she added.</p>
<h3>‘Gaza has been made unfit for human life’</h3>
<p>The report also drew attention to the magnitude of destruction in
Gaza, saying it has prompted allegations of “domicide, urbicide,
scholasticide, medicide, cultural genocide and ecocide.”</p>
<p>It estimated that nearly 40 million tonnes of debris, including
unexploded ordnance and human remains, contaminate the ecosystem.</p>
<p>Additionally, more than 140 temporary waste sites and 340,000 tonnes
of untreated wastewater and sewage overflow have created breeding
grounds for diseases such as hepatitis A, respiratory infections,
diarrhoea and skin diseases.</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_715874" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240216-medical-equipment-israel-bans-from-entering-gaza/banned-in-gaza-2-1/" rel="attachment wp-att-715874"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-715874" tabindex="0" role="button" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Banned-in-Gaza-2-1-scaled.jpg?resize=334%2C333&ssl=1" alt="" width="334" height="333" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></a></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-715874" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Israel
bans entry of medical equipment into Gaza since 9 October 2023,
exacerbating health emergency for thousands [The Egyptian Red Crescent
and aid workers]</p></div><p>“As Israeli leaders promised, Gaza has been made unfit for human life,” the report said.</p>
<p>The report also mentioned Israeli-imposed restrictions on resources
essential for Palestinian survival, such as food, water and medical
supplies.</p>
<p>“Systematic attacks on Gaza food sovereignty indicate an intent to
destroy its population through starvation,” it said, recalling Israeli
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240805-blocking-aid-to-gaza-justified-and-moral-even-if-2m-civilians-starve-israel-minister-says/">remarks </a>in August stating that starving the entire Gaza population was “justified and moral.”</p>
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<h3>Escalating genocidal risk in West Bank</h3>
<p>The report warned that violence and systematic targeting are
spreading beyond Gaza, raising serious concerns of genocidal risk in the
West Bank, including East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Since October 2023, Israeli occupation forces have reportedly
conducted over 5,500 raids in the West Bank, with hundreds of
Palestinians killed and thousands injured.</p>
<p>Albanese noted that this surge in violence has been fuelled by
violent settlers, often supported by Israeli forces, and said these
patterns echo the severity of Gaza’s devastation.</p>
<p>She cited alarming instances of Palestinian children being
systematically targeted, with at least 169 children killed since October
2023, nearly 80 per cent of whom were shot in the head or torso.</p>
<p>“The devastation inflicted on Gaza is now metastasising to the West
Bank, including East Jerusalem,” she warned, adding that some officials,
including Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have
publicly supported harsh treatment and mass arrests of Palestinians,
with 9,400 currently detained under severe conditions.</p>
<h2>States ‘must intervene now’</h2>
<p>Albanese called on the international community to act decisively,
saying “member states must intervene now to prevent new atrocities that
will further scar human history.”</p>
<p>She urged states to use all their political leverage – commencing
with a full arms embargo and sanctions – so that Israel stops the
assault against the Palestinians, accepts a cease-fire and fully
withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territory in line with the<a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240719-icj-israel-must-pay-reparations-to-palestinians/"> ICJ advisory opinion</a> of 19 July.</p>
<p>She asked them to formally recognise Israel as an “apartheid state
and persistent violator of international law” while supporting
independent and thorough investigations.</p>
<p>The rapporteur also called on states to ensure unhindered
humanitarian assistance to Gaza and full financing and protection of
UNRWA.</p>
<p>Lastly, she urged the ICC Prosecutor to investigate the commission of the crimes of genocide and apartheid by Israel.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241029-turkiye-leads-campaign-at-the-un-to-stop-supplying-weapons-to-israel/">Turkiye leads campaign at the UN to stop supplying weapons to Israel</a></strong></p>
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