Tag: Israel

GENEVA: The UN expert who concluded Israel was committing acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip received broad support at the United Nations on Tuesday, with countries speaking up to back her and her report.

Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, told the UN Human Rights Council that countries should impose an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel.

Expanding in person on her report released on Monday, Albanese said Israel was characterising the entire Gazan population as “targetable, killable and destroyable,” and had ostentatiously laid bare its “genocidal intent” to “rid Palestine of Palestinians.”

Dozens of diplomats, mostly representing Arab and Muslim countries but also Latin America, took the floor to defend her mandate and her work.

Pakistan, speaking for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, backed her call for sanctions and an arms embargo.“We commend your courage in documenting… acts amounting to genocide in Gaza,” Islamabad’s representative said.

“The occupation force’s dangerous and ruthless push for a final solution to the Palestinian question is plain for all to see, as its forces encircle Rafah like vultures and its ravenous land grab continues unabated in the West Bank.”

Egypt, speaking for Arab group countries, affirmed their support for Albanese’s mandate and said they were gravely concerned about Israel’s “structured and systematic attack to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable.”

And Qatar, on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, thanked Albanese for her report and demanded the international community “put an end to genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli war machinery.”

In her speech, Albanese told the top UN rights body that Israel had “destroyed Gaza.”

“When genocidal intent is so conspicuous, so ostentatious, as it is in Gaza, we cannot avert our eyes: we must confront genocide, we must prevent it and we must punish it,” she said.

“The genocide in Gaza is the most extreme stage of a long-standing settler-colonial process of erasure of the native Palestinians.”

Special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council, although they do not speak on behalf of the UN.

In response, Russia said it was “horrified” by Israel’s military operation that had seen “civilian infrastructure targeted” while China said it was was ready to facilitate peace talks.

The European Union called for “proper and independent investigations on all allegations” and while appalled by the civilian death toll it recognized Israel’s right to self-defense.

Albanese’s speech concluded to applause in the chamber. Israel was not present, nor was its chief ally the United States.

Israel has long been harshly critical of Albanese, and on Monday immediately rejected her report as an “obscene inversion of reality.”

The United States called her mandate “biased against Israel.”

In the rights council on Tuesday, the only firm support for such positions came from non-governmental organizations.

The World Jewish Congress said Albanese’s mandate “seeks to entrench divisions and a one-sided narrative instead of pursuing a balanced and inclusive approach.”

The European Union of Jewish Students said Albanese’s “resignation is imperative” for the council to retain any credibility on issues concerning Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 32,400 people in the besieged Strip, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory.

Israel reacted angrily on Monday to the first UN Security Council vote to demand an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza war, after its closest ally the United States abstained, while fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

Immediately after the resolution passed, Israel cancelled the visit of a delegation to Washington, which the United States had requested to discuss concerns over a mooted Israeli invasion of Rafah, in crowded southern Gaza.

Israel said the US abstention “hurts” both its war effort and efforts to release hostages.

It was “a clear retreat from the consistent position of the US,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

While diplomatic attention turned to New York, fighting continued across the Gaza Strip, with Israeli forces battling Hamas militants around at least two major hospitals.

Washington insisted that its Security Council abstention did not mark a shift in policy, although it has taken an increasingly tougher line with Israel in recent weeks.

The United States had repeatedly vetoed Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire, but on Friday it put forward its own unsuccessful text mentioning one, before abstaining on Monday’s resolution drafted by non-permanent Council members.

Applause

It meant that the resolution, which demands an “immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan that leads to a “lasting” truce, went through with all other 14 Security Council members voting yes.

The resolution drew applause in the usually staid council and also demands that Hamas and other militants free hostages they seized, though it does not directly link a release to the ceasefire.

The Gaza war broke out with Hamas’s unprecedented attack of October 7 which resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes around 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 presumed dead.

Netanyahu’s failure to bring home the hostages has led to regular protests in Israel.

Vowing to destroy Hamas and free the captives, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment of the coastal territory and a ground invasion that began in Gaza’s north before moving southward.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Monday put the total Palestinian death toll at 32,333, most of them women and children.

Hamas welcomed the Security Council resolution and said it was reaffirming its readiness to negotiate the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Member states are obliged to comply with resolutions passed by the Security Council, whose vote came while Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant visited Washington.

After the UN decision, Gallant said the war will go on.

“We have no moral right to stop the war while there are still hostages held in Gaza,” he said.

Tensions between the two allies have grown alongside US concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN says famine is imminent.

Netanyahu’s determination to launch a ground operation in Rafah, the city on Gaza’s southern border where most of the territory’s population is sheltering, has become a key point of contention.

Prior to the UN vote, US Vice President Kamala Harris told ABC TV that a Rafah invasion would be “a huge mistake”. Asked hether she would rule out “consequences” for Israel, Harris said: “I am ruling out nothing”.

Before heading to Washington, Gallant said his focus would include “our ability to obtain platforms and munitions”.

Hospital battles

Troops and tanks have encircled Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory’s biggest, for a week and more recently moved on Al-Amal Hospital in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

Israel has labelled its operations “precise operational activities” and said it has taken care to avoid harm to civilians, but aid agencies have voiced alarm about civilians caught up in the fighting.

The Israeli military said it was battling militants around the two hospitals and reported around 20 militants killed around Al-Amal over the past day in close-quarters combat and air strikes.

Palestinians living near Al-Shifa have reported hellish conditions, including corpses in the streets, constant bombardment and the rounding up of men who are stripped to their underwear and questioned.

The Al-Shifa raid was in its eighth day and the military reported having detained a total of about 500 militants “affiliated with” Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group.

‘We are suffering’

Israel has signalled an extended presence at Al-Shifa which troops also raided in November, to an international outcry.

At Al-Amal Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli troops ordered staff and patients to evacuate, but the departing convoy got stuck due to debris on the road.

The charity reported that Israeli troops opened fire on staffers who tried to clear the debris, wounding two — one of whom made it back to the convoy.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The military said its Al-Amal operation included “raids on several terrorist infrastructure sites”, where they found explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades and other military equipment.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, on a visit to the Middle East, has pleaded for an end to the “non-stop nightmare” for the 2.4 million people trapped in Gaza’s worst-ever war and stalked by starvation.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 107 people were killed in a 24-hour period into Monday, and the Hamas government press office said more than 50 airstrikes rained down on the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s armed forces gave a similar number and said its fighter jets and helicopters had struck about 50 targets.

Food and water shortages have deepened the suffering, especially in northern Gaza where residents, mostly women and children, waited in line to fill up jerrycans and buckets in Jabalia.

“We don’t even have food to give us the energy to go to collect the water — let alone the innocent children, women and the elderly,” said one man, Bassam Mohammed al-Haou.

The UN Security Council on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza five months into the grinding war, despite Israel’s ally the United States abstaining.

Here are some reactions to the resolution to halt fighting over the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with an aim for a “lasting” truce, which drew rare applause at the Security Council:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for swift implementation of a ceasefire after Israel voiced anger over the resolution.

“Failure would be unforgivable,” Guterres wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Hamas welcomed the resolution to halt fighting in Gaza while saying it was ready to negotiate the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

“We also affirm our readiness to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides,” the militant group said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the UN vote “hurts both the war effort and the effort to release the abductees”.

“It gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a ceasefire without the release of our abductees,” the statement said. It also took aim at the US abstention, calling it a “clear retreat” from its earlier position.

Hussein al-Sheikh, minister for civilian affairs of the Palestinian Authority which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, hailed the resolution in a post on X.

“We call for a permanent cessation to this criminal war and Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” he wrote.

Following the vote, the United States said a ceasefire can “only” be implemented once Hamas begins releasing hostages it still holds.

“A ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage,” US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

After the United States vetoed previous drafts, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists that the US decision to abstain from Monday’s vote does not represent a “shift in our policy”.

The Arab League’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the decision “comes late”.

“The lesson now is to implement the decision on the ground, stop military operations and Israeli aggression immediately and completely,” he added.

Top European Union officials welcomed the resolution, calling for a ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages.

“Implementation of this resolution is vital for the protection of all civilians,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X.

The resolution “represents the first important and necessary step to stop the bloodshed,” the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement to the UN.

The Brazilian government said it “hopes that the ceasefire will be implemented immediately, as stipulated by the resolution, and reiterated “the urgency of ensuring the effective entry of an expanded and regular flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, as well as the release of all hostages”.

France’s UN representative called for a sustained truce between Israel and Hamas beyond the ongoing month of Ramadan.

“This crisis is not over,” said Nicolas de Riviere. “After Ramadan, which ends in two weeks, it will have to establish a permanent ceasefire.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she was “relieved by the adoption of the resolution”. “Every day counts,” she added.

Baghdad’s foreign minister applauded the resolution in a statement and stressed “the importance for the parties to respect their obligations under international law”.

Jordan’s foreign ministry expressed hope that the UN and international community would “take action to safeguard the two-state solution and ensure the establishment of an autonomous and sovereign Palestinian state”.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati hailed the “first stage in the process of ending Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.”

He also called for a political solution “to end the conflict and give the Palestinians their rights”.

Qatar said it hopes the resolution “represents a step towards a permanent cessation of fighting in the Strip”.

The gas-rich emirate has been engaged in weeks of mediation between Israel and Hamas to secure a truce in Gaza and an exchange of hostages and prisoners.

Foreign minister Naledi Pandor welcomed the resolution on public radio but stressed that “the ball is in the court of the Security Council”.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on X applauded the resolution, and said that “the realisation of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security is the only realistic and viable solution for the region”.

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the next step was “to stop the violence, free the hostages, immediately send in vastly more humanitarian aid to Gaza and find a lasting solution”.

The country’s far-right leader, Geert Wilders, who swept to victory in recent polls, on X voiced support for Israel “against the dark forces of hate and destruction called Hamas”.

Turkey called the resolution and prospective return of humanitarian access to Gaza “a positive step”.

“We hope that Israel will comply with the requirements of this resolution without delay,” Turkish foreign affairs spokesman Oncu Keceli wrote on X.

Chile’s foreign office said it was “necessary to progress the two state solution, in which Palestine and Israel can live in peace inside internationally recognised borders.”

“I invite the world’s nations if Israel breaks this ceasefire to break diplomatic relations with this country,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro on X.

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said the resolution is “long overdue” and called for “an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo”.

Human Rights Watch’s UN lead Louis Charbonneau called for Israel to halt “unlawful attacks”, for Palestinian armed groups to “immediately release all civilians held hostage”, and for the US and others to suspend “arms transfers to Israel”.

Oxfam’s UN representative Brenda Mofya said the resolution should provide “much-needed respite from the relentless and devastating Israeli violence”.

Singapore made the Israeli embassy in the city-state take down an “insensitive” social media post about the Palestinians over the weekend after warning it could inflame tensions, the interior minister said Monday.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza and deepening humanitarian crisis in the besieged strip since October 7 have divided opinion across the world.

The post reportedly said Israel was mentioned 43 times in the Koran but Palestine — the name Palestinians give to what they hope will become their independent, sovereign state — was not, according to local media.

Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said he asked Singapore’s foreign ministry to tell the Israeli embassy to remove the post made on Sunday after learning about it, which the mission immediately did.

“That post on the Israeli embassy social media page is completely unacceptable. I was very upset when I was told about it,” Shanmugam told reporters, according to a transcript.

“It is insensitive and inappropriate. It carries the risk of undermining our safety, security and harmony in Singapore.”

Shanmugam said the post had been taken down.

“Posts like these can… inflame tensions, and can put the Jewish community here at risk. The anger from the post can potentially spill over into the physical realm,” he added.

The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment.

Singapore has condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel but has also said that Israel’s military response “has now gone too far”.

The health ministry in the Gaza Strip on Sunday put the total death toll in the territory at 32,226, most of them women and children.

JERUSALEM: In a small hotel near the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, where she received radiation therapy for breast cancer, Palestinian Rim Abu Obeida waits anxiously.

She is among a group of Palestinian patients living in limbo while a top Israeli court weighs whether they can be sent back to war-torn Gaza now that their treatment is completed.

Like dozens of Gazans before Israel began its intensive military operations after October 7, she was granted permission to leave the territory for care because hospitals in the Gaza Strip did not have the necessary equipment.

“This week, we were suddenly told we had to return to Gaza. This is sending us to hell, to death!” Abu Obeida said.

If she is forced to leave, she will not have much to return to — her house in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis has been destroyed in Israeli’s offensive.

The roughly 20 patients from Gaza, most of them battling cancer, have been receiving treatment in Tel Aviv and East Jerusalem for the past six months.

COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body that governs civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, said this week that because the patients “don’t need any continued medical treatment, they are being returned to the Gaza Strip.”

But at the last minute, the Israeli Supreme Court, responding to a petition by the NGO Physicians for Human Rights, suspended COGAT’s order.

The court is expected to rule on the case, though the timeline is unclear. The government has until April 21 to file its arguments.

In the next room, along with Abu Obeida, Manal Abu Shaaban was busy stashing food into her bags.

“I have rice, sugar, everything they are deprived of there. I hope they won’t stop me from bringing them in,” she said.
Abu Shaaban, a breast cancer patient like Abu Obeida, said she was not opposed to returning.

Still, she knew the security situation meant she would be unable to reach her home in Gaza City, in the besieged territory’s north.

“I want to go back. But to my home, in my house! Not in Rafah, in the south, where they want us to go, I don’t know anyone there,” she said.

Large swaths of the north have been flattened by Israeli bombardment, and a UN-backed assessment said the area faces famine by May unless substantially more aid reaches it.

Meanwhile, in Gaza’s south, up to 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are crammed into Rafah and live under the threat of a full-scale Israeli ground offensive.

Asked about the fate of the patients who face being returned to Gaza, Augusta Victoria Hospital director Fadi Mizyed paused for a few seconds.

“I don’t know. They will go back in a war zone, they will be at risk, they will be living in catastrophic conditions,” he said.

“The situation in Gaza is beyond description, with no guaranteed healthcare services that can do what is needed for any cancer patients.”

“We said we don’t think it’s the right thing to do but at the end of the day it’s not our call,” he added.