TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / September 17, 2024
UN experts criticized the West over its support of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip and warned that Israel might become a “pariah” nation for carrying on a genocide.
Four United Nations Special Rapporteurs criticized on Monday Western countries for their continuous support of Israel in its war in Gaza warning that Israel might become a “pariah” nation over its genocide in the besieged Strip.
The UN rapporteurs, namely Francesca Albanese, Tlaleng Mofokeng, George Katrougalos and Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, spoke at a joint conference held under the title of ‘Escalating violence and human rights violations in Gaza and across the Occupied Palestinian Territory’, as part of the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The UN experts slammed the West’s “double standards” in the ongoing genocide while asserting the need for Israel to be held accountable for its actions.
“I think it is unavoidable for Israel to become a pariah in the face of its continuous, relentless, vilifying assault of the United Nations, on top of millions of Palestinians,” Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 said.
Albanese stated that Israel’s ongoing attacks in the Gaza Strip have reached an alarming level and are spreading to the West Bank.
She detailed in her intervention the catastrophic situation in Gaza stressing that Israel’s genocidal war destroyed the basic infrastructure of every aspect of life in the Strip.
The UN special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Tlaleng Mofokeng said on his part that the world has witnessed the horror of genocide for the last eleven months in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Mofokeng stressed in his intervention that the nearly one-year genocide in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation army has witnessed record attacks on the health system in the besieged enclave including those on hospitals and health workers, which resulted in the destruction of the entire health infrastructure.
He revealed that out of the 36 existing hospitals in Gaza, only 17 are partly functioning, emphasizing that Israel continues to violate international law by targeting Palestinian civilians including children and health personnel.
On his part, the special rapporteur on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, George Katrougalos labeled the unfolding events in the occupied Palestinian territories as a public catastrophe.
Katrougalos stressed that “this disaster and tragedy is not limited to the Palestinians, but is directly linked to the future of multilateralism and UN standards.”
He further called on the international community to exert all efforts to stop the war on Gaza and recognize the State of Palestine.
Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation criticized Israel’s “militarization of water” in the occupied Palestinian Territory describing it as part of its “water and territorial apartheid” policy, Anadolu reported.
“The militarization of water in the occupied Palestinian territories has been at the heart of a policy of water and territorial apartheid for the past 50 years, including the destruction of basic Palestinian water infrastructure,” he stressed.
Arrojo-Agudo stated that the Palestinian population in Gaza consumes an average of 4.7 liters of water per person per day, which is way below the 15 liters emergency requirement set by the World Health Organization.
Gaza’s ongoing genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,252 Palestinians have been killed, and 95,497 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
