Online Reporter
United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Ms Francesca Albanese, has called on countries to cut off all trade and financial ties with Israel, including a full arms embargo, and withdraw international support for what she termed an “economy of genocide”.
Ms Albanese made the comments in a speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday as she presented her latest report, which named dozens of companies she said were involved in supporting Israeli repression and violence towards Palestinians.
Nearly 57 000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the war started in October 2023, with hundreds of thousands displaced multiple times, cities and towns razed, hospitals and schools targeted, and 85 percent of the besieged and bombarded enclave is now under Israeli military control, according to the UN.
The report, titled “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide”, detailed what it described as “the corporate machinery sustaining Israel’s settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of the Palestinians in the occupied territory”.
The report singled out companies, including arms manufacturers, tech giants, heavy machinery companies and financial institutions, for their “complicity” in Israel’s repression of Palestinians, from sustaining Israeli expansion on occupied land to enabling the surveillance and killing of Palestinians.
Palestine has condemned the alarming escalation of violence perpetrated by Israel against the people, which has seen nearly 50 civilians killed daily, mainly at food aid collection points, in the last few days.
In a statement, Palestinian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Dr Tamer Almassri said he was disheartened by the international community’s “deafening silence in the face of such atrocities”.
“We demand immediate action to put an end to Israel’s brutal aggression in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“These egregious daily martyrs’ toll, coupled with the systematic destruction of entire neighbourhoods and the targeting of Palestinians solely due to their nationality, underscores a campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity.
“What is unfolding is not merely a war, but a systematic extermination aimed at an entire people. The world must recognise that Israel’s actions constitute genocide and the international community must take concrete steps to demand an immediate comprehensive end to Israel’s aggression in the Gaza Strip, permanent opening of crossings to facilitate the free movement of people and goods, a halt to arms exports to Israel, which only serve to perpetuate its war crimes and implement international justice and accountability for Israel’s crimes, including the prosecution of Israeli leaders and officials responsible for war crimes.”
Amb Almassri condemned the use of siege and starvation as weapons of war and the deplorable use of aid to ambush and kill Palestinians.
He said Israel is exploiting the international community’s lack of decisive action to escalate its atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
“History has shown us that perpetrators of genocide and war crimes will eventually face justice. Just as the Nazis were held accountable for their atrocities, Israel must know that the long arm of justice and international law will catch up, and they will pay a heavy price for their crimes,” said Amb Almassri.
The Palestine branch of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which promotes reproductive and maternal health, says pregnant women in Gaza face dire conditions amid continued Israeli attacks and near-total restrictions on humanitarian assistance.
“Across Gaza, nowhere is safe – not tents, not schools, not hospitals. Pregnant women give birth in horrific conditions without midwives, medicine, or clean water. Starving mothers face impossible choices. This is not a crisis – it’s a catastrophe,” the group said. – Herald Reporter/Al Jazeera
