francesca albanese
UN Experts Demand Accountability for 'Barbaric' Israeli Tent Massacre in Rafah
"There is no mistake, just total disregard for humanity, decency, international law," said human rights experts at the United Nations of Israel's bombing of an encampment.
A coalition of United Nations experts on Wednesday vehemently rejected Israel's claim that its bombing of a tent encampment in a supposed "humanitarian area" in Rafah was a "tragic mistake," demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government be stopped from continuing its assault on Gaza and that those responsible for the bombing be held to account.
"These barbaric attacks are a flagrant violation of international law. They are also an attack on human decency and our collective humanity," said the experts, including Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, and Paula Gaviria Betancur, special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.
The experts said the death toll in Israel's Sunday attack on a tent encampment in the Rafah neighborhood of Tal al-Sultan had reached 46, with 23 women, children, and elderly people among the dead. The makeshift plastic tents were located near a facility operated by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and like many places in Gaza that have been bombarded by Israel since October, had been identified as a safe zone for civilians as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched ground attacks on Rafah,
As images of the charred bodies of victims sent shockwaves through the international community this week, Israeli forces killed 21 more Palestinians on Tuesday at an encampment in al-Mawasi—another area displaced people were ordered by Israel to go earlier this month as the military entered Rafah.
"Even if Israeli leaders claim now that the strikes were a 'mistake', they bear international legal responsibility," said the U.N. rapporteurs. "Calling it a mistake will not make the strikes legal, bring back those killed in Rafah, or give comfort to grieving survivors."
Albanese, who released a draft report in March saying Israel's relentless assault on Gaza since October met the definition of a genocide, emphasized the need for "sanctions and an immediate arms embargo on Israel."
Accountability must be demanded from Israel, said the experts, particularly considering this week's attacks on civilians took place just days after the International Court of Justice ordered the Israeli government to stop its military offensive in Rafah, where more than 1 million people had been forcibly displaced since Israel began attacking cities across Gaza in October. Many of them have recently fled the city, according to the United Nations.
The ICJ said last Friday that Israel had not convinced its panel of judges that it had taken the necessary steps to protect civilians as the IDF continued what it claims is an operation aimed at defeating Hamas and not at killing civilians—despite numerous statements from Israeli officials about their plan to "annihilate" Gaza cities and to allow the military to attack without any "restraints."
"ICJ orders like the one issued on May 24, 2024 to Israel are binding. And Israel—which has enjoyed impunity for its crimes against the Palestinian people for decades, and for its brutal assault on the people of Gaza over the past eight months—must comply," the experts said.
They also directed their remarks at the U.S. and other Western countries that have continued to provide political and military support to Israel even as the death toll in Gaza has surged past 36,000, with the IDF firing on people waiting for aid deliveries and bombing refugee camps, and authorities discovering mass graves with Palestinians—including women and children—appearing to have been buried alive, some with their hands bound behind their backs.
"The flow of arms into Israel must stop immediately," they said. "It is abundantly clear that these weapons are being used to brutally kill and maim Palestinian civilians."
On Wednesday, The New York Times and CNNreported that U.S. bombs had been used in the attack on Tal al-Sultan. The White House refused to confirm the outlets' analysis.
The U.N. experts demanded an independent international investigation into the latest Rafah bombings and an end to Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
"A staggering 5% of Gaza's population has been killed or injured, more than 70% of homes destroyed, and more than 75% displaced," they said. "The agony of Gaza's people must end."
"An immediate and permanent cease-fire," the experts added, "coupled with meaningful measures to document and ensure accountability for atrocities, and secure the fundamental rights of Palestinians in Gaza, are the only path forward to salvage our shared humanity."
Group Files New ICC Complaint Over Journalists Killed by Israel in Gaza
Reporters Without Borders says it has "reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians."
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders announced Monday that it has filed a third complaint at the International Criminal Court alleging "war crimes against journalists in Gaza," where over 100 media professionals have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is asking the ICC to investigate the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) killing of eight Palestinian journalists and wounding of another between December 15 and May 20 and, more broadly, the over 100 media workers slain during the course of Israel's 234-day assault on Gaza.
RSF said it "has reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians" and accused Israel of "an eradication of the Palestinian media."
"Impunity endangers journalists not only in Palestine but also throughout the world," RSF advocacy and assistance director Antoine Bernard said in a statement. "Those who kill journalists are attacking the public's right to information, which is even more essential in times of conflict. They must be held accountable, and RSF will continue to work to this end, in solidarity with Gaza's reporters."
Journalists in RSF's latest complaint include Mustapha Thuraya and Hamza al-Dahdouh, freelancers working for Al Jazeera in Rafah when they were killed by a targeted Israeli drone strike on their vehicle on January 7, and Hazem Rajab, who was injured in the strike.
According to RSF:
The complaint also cites the cases of Hadaf News website reporter Ahmed Badir, who was killed by an airstrike at the entrance to Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah on 10 January; Kan'an News Agency correspondent Yasser Mamdouh, who was killed near Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on 11 February; Ayat Khadoura, an independent video blogger killed by an Israeli strike on his home on 20 November shortly after posting a video; Yazan Emad Al-Zwaidi, a cameraman with the Egyptian satellite TV news channel Al Ghad, who was killed on 14 January when an Israeli strike hit the group of civilians he was with in Beit Hanoun; Ahmed Fatima, a journalist with the Al Qahera News TV channel, who was killed during a bombardment in Khan Yunis on 13 November; and Rami Bdeir, a reporter for the Palestinian New Press media outlet, who was killed during an Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis on 15 December.
Another advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, previously condemned what it called an "apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families," noting cases in which media workers were killed while wearing press insignia and after being threatened by Israeli officials.
Monday marked the ninth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2222, which concerns the protection of journalists in conflict zones and "emphasizes the responsibility of states to comply with the relevant obligations under international law to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law."
Last month, Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said: "Killing journalists is a war crime that undermines the most basic human rights. Justice starts with the cessation of injustice."
UN Expert Demands EU Suspend Trade Deal With Israel Over Gaza Genocide
"Europe is the main trading partner—which accounts I think for 30% of Israel's trade—so it has a huge power and it should use that power," said U.N. expert Francesca Albanese.
Pointing out a significant "disconnect" between the European Union's political class and the public regarding Israel's assault on Gaza, the top United Nations expert on the occupied Palestinian territories on Wednesday said E.U. officials must suspend trade relations with the Israeli government.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, toldEuronews that the E.U. has an "obligation" to suspend its association agreement with Israel because the document bars participants from committing human rights violations like those detailed in Albanese's recent report on the bombardment of Gaza.
Albanese said in her report, titled Anatomy of a Genocide, that she had found "reasonable grounds to believe" Israel's killing of more than 33,000 Palestinians since October—including dozens who have starved to death as a result of a near-total blockade on aid—meets the threshold for a genocide.
With Israel's European allies continuing to trade with the country, Albanese said, the right-wing Israeli government "has no incentive whatsoever to change conduct."
"Israel has the political, financial, economic means to continue operating business as usual," she said. "Europe is the main trading partner—which accounts I think for 30% of Israel's trade—so it has a huge power and it should use that power. In the end, this is not an option, it's an obligation because Article 2 of that association agreement foresees the suspension in case of violations of human rights."
Albanese's demand came nearly two months after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Irish politician Leo Varadkar, who resigned as prime minister this week, called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to conduct an "urgent review" of whether Israel is complying with its obligations under the association agreement.
Last week, Irish Social Democratic lawmaker Gary Gannon condemned the E.U. for not acting on Sánchez and Varadkar's demand.
"There hasn't actually been an official response from Ursula von der Leyen's office," said Gannon. "You mentioned that it was 'discussed' at the last Council meeting. 'Discussed'? I want more, I want documented minutes of that discussion, I want to know who was in favor and who was against. What could possibly be the justification for not enacting the humanitarian clauses within those agreements?"
Time after time, the European Council refuses to trigger the humanitarian clauses of the EU's trade deal with Israel.
Its pathetic response to genocide is shameful and outrageous.
If Israel is not in breach of these clauses, we may as well rip them up, says @GaryGannonTD pic.twitter.com/DJK4NL9rTh
— Social Democrats (@SocDems) April 2, 2024
Public outcry in E.U. countries over Israel's bombardment of Gaza has intensified as the war has gone on for more than six months, with 44% of French people expressing condemnation of Israel in a poll this month—up from 35% in October.
A group of German civil servants wrote to Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week demanding that Germany—which along with the U.S. provides an estimated 99% of Israel's foreign military aid—"cease arm deliveries to the Israeli government with immediate effect." The civil servants cited the International Court of Justice's interim ruling in January that Israel's assault on Gaza amounts to "plausible acts of genocide."
At The Guardian on Wednesday, E.U. affairs columnist Shada Islam wrote that the bloc's "collective failure to denounce Israel's unrestrained ferocity in Gaza" is "even more egregious" considering the E.U.'s outrage over human rights violations in China, Myanmar, and other countries.
Islam noted that the E.U. adopted a plan in 2020 on human rights and democracy, promising "that respect for human dignity and human rights will underpin all aspects of its policies."
Despite this, she said, "there has been no response to demands from human rights groups for a suspension of the E.U.-Israel trade agreement."
"The E.U.'s inertia makes a mockery of its action plan adopted four years ago," Islam added. "Damage to the E.U.'s reputation risks being irreparable. Even if the slaughter in Gaza is now viewed by many European citizens as an unfolding genocide, that view is not being represented by their governments."