A group of independent UN human rights experts said Monday in Geneva that no one can doubt that genocide is taking place in Gaza and that Israel had this objective from the start of the war on the Palestinian enclave in response to the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Jewish communities on October 7, 2023.
“I believe that (Israel’s) genocidal intent has been demonstrated from the beginning… We have had numerous statements from Israeli officials saying that the Palestinians are animals, that they cannot be treated according to international standards of war,” the UN rapporteur on the promotion of democracy and a just international order, George Katrougalos, said at a press conference.
The expert added that since the beginning of the war, “the situation has worsened considerably,” and he therefore believes that “there is no doubt about it.”
Meanwhile, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, assured that “genocide is ongoing,” recalling that since mid-October last year, she and many others have been alerted to the “serious risk of genocide.” He regretted that the international community had not assumed its legal responsibility to prevent genocide in the Gaza Strip, but warned that the risk is now that this extermination will be repeated in the occupied West Bank: “Those who live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are not doing it. They are saving us from the unbearable violence that the people of Gaza have suffered. “Attacks against Palestinians have intensified since 7 October.”
Albanese denounced that more than 600 Palestinians have been murdered in these occupied territories, including 159 minors, and that violence has increased considerably in the last two weeks in the northern West Bank, where the Israeli army has launched a “terrorist operation” in several locations.
Regarding the genocidal intent, the UN rapporteur on the right to water and basic sanitation, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, said that the Israeli authorities announced at the beginning of the offensive against Gaza that they would cut off the supply of water, food and electricity to the Palestinian territory, “which implies the crime of extermination.” He also added that, in this context, drinking water – essential to the survival of Palestinians, but scarce in the Gaza Strip – is being used “as a weapon of war.”
According to the expert, Gaza residents are currently surviving on just 4.7 liters of water per person per day, while in normal circumstances everyone uses at least 100 liters to cover their needs and the World Health Organization (WHO) has established that 15 liters per person per day is the minimum in emergency situations, such as armed conflicts.
Arrojo-Agudo said that the very poor access to water in Gaza has caused 1.7 million cases of infections of all kinds during the eleven months of war and that this causes “silent” deaths, especially among children, who are not counted as part of the deaths caused by the Israeli offensive – more than 41,000, according to local authorities.
For her part, the UN rapporteur on the right to health, Tialeng Mofokeng, said at the same press conference that the only way to reverse this tragedy is to establish an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
