There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel is “committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinians as a group in the Gaza Strip,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories.
Francesca Albanese made the statements this Wednesday (27), after presenting her latest report, entitled “Anatomy of a Genocide” to the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, made on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference, Albanese said: “Israel committed three acts of genocide with the necessary intent: killing members of the group, causing serious physical or mental harm to members of the group, and deliberately inflicting on the group living conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction. , in whole or in part”.
Israel said, in turn, that it “totally rejects” the report, which it said “embarrasses” the Human Rights Council.
It is “no surprise that the premise of this report is that the creation of the Jewish State in 1948 was an act of 'settler colonialism,' and genocide is an 'inherent part' of that act,” commented Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva in a statement on X on Monday.
The statement also blamed the UN expert for “delegitimizing the very creation and existence of the State of Israel.”
Albanese highlighted that there was “blatant and systematic massacre of Palestinian civilians”, as well as “the use of illegal weaponry, the total destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, including the deliberate attack on all Gaza hospitals, and the man-made starvation of Palestinians ”.
“The unfolding of the monstrosity is accompanied by a pervasive anti-Palestinian narrative and dehumanization emanating from the highest levels of Israeli society, including high-ranking officers with command authority, and often reflected in the actions of soldiers on the ground,” Albanese said in the Press conference.
She added that this reflected the intention “to destroy in whole or in part, which is what distinguishes genocide from other atrocity crimes.”
The UN special rapporteur concluded that “the only reasonable inference that can be drawn” is an “Israeli state policy of genocidal violence against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
She noted that one of the report's “main conclusions” was that “Israel's executive and military leadership and soldiers intentionally distorted 'jus in bello' principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against Israel. Palestinian people.”
“Jus in bello” (justice in war) is the Latin term that refers to the international laws that govern the way war is conducted.
Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva, in its response, also said: “the very attempt to raise the charge of genocide against Israel is an outrageous distortion of the Genocide Convention.”
“Israel’s war is against Hamas, not against Palestinian civilians,” he added.
Source: CNN Brasil
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