Israel Has Made Gaza ‘Unfit for Human Life’: UN Rapporteur

New Delhi: The United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s report has accused Israel of unleashing a “long-term intentional, systematic, State-organized forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians,” particularly after October 7, 2023.

In a report presented to the UN General Assembly on Monday, Albanese called upon all UN member state to intervene to “prevent new atrocities that will further scar human history”, adding that the trajectory of the violence unleashed by Israel “risks causing irreparable prejudice to the very existence of the Palestinian people in Palestine. “

The report focuses on the situation of human rights in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

Noting that “Gaza has been made unfit for human life,” Albanese, in her report has drawn attention to the magnitude of destruction in Gaza, saying it has prompted allegations of "domicide, urbicide, scholasticide, medicide, cultural genocide and ecocide."

It estimated that nearly 40 million tonnes of debris, including unexploded ordnance and human remains, contaminate the ecosystem.

Additionally, over 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.

The report is based on legal research and analysis, interviews with victims and witnesses, including in Jordan and Egypt, open-source information and inputs from experts and civil-society organisations.

Incidentally, the UN Special Rapporteur was refused access to the occupied Palestinian territory. Criticising Israel, Albanese said it had “no authority to bar fact-finding mechanisms from the territory that it illegally occupies.”

The report added that persistent denial of access to UN 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. “

Albanese’s report noted that “displaced people have been systematically chased down and targeted in shelters, including in United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools, 70 per cent of which Israel has repeatedly attacked.”

It cited satellite imagery and other sources that show Israeli soldiers have built roads and military bases in more than 26% of Gaza, suggesting the aim of a permanent presence.

The report goes into great details of the attacks on hospitals and health facilities, creating a major health crisis in Gaza.

The report said Israel’s “intent to destroy” has become established, as the targeting of a group’s existence such that the “group can no longer reconstitute itself”.

“Early identification of genocide is crucial to prevent genocide, ensuring that a central tenet of the post-Second World War international legal system is not a dead letter,” it added.

The 32-page report concludes that advancing the goal of “Greater Israel”, threatens to “erase the Indigenous Palestinian population.”

“Today, the genocide of the Palestinians appears to be the means to an end: the complete removal or eradication of Palestinians from the land so integral to their identity, and which is illegally and openly coveted by Israel,” it adds.

In her report, Albanese has urged member-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 ceasefire and fully withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territory in line with the ICJ Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024”.

The report also calls upon member-states to formally recognise Israel as an apartheid state and a “persistent violator of international law.”

It also calls for UN member-state to develop a protective framework for Palestinians displaced outside Gaza, in line with international human rights and refugee law, “while fully preserving their right to return”, as well as support independent and thorough investigation(s) of criminal conduct, including genocide and apartheid, including through the application in national courts of universal jurisdiction over those suspected of such criminal conduct; investigate and prosecute corporate entities and dual citizens involved in crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory, including soldiers, mercenaries and settlers; and above all, ensure “unhindered humanitarian assistance to Gaza and full financing and protection of UNRWA, including from attacks on its premises and personnel and from libellous smear campaigns, and ensure the continuity of its mandate in all fields.”