GENEVA: Countries are at a moral crossroads over the conflict in Gaza, UN experts warned Wednesday, urging action to halt the violence and avoid “the annihilation of the Palestinian population” in the territory.
A two-month ceasefire in the war collapsed in March, with Israel resuming intense strikes and calling up tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement slammed by Israel, dozens of independent United Nations experts warned that countries faced a “stark” choice.
“Remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution,” they said, urging the world to avert the “moral abyss we are descending into”.
The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, said Israel’s actions in Gaza “follow alarming, documented patterns of genocidal conduct”.
Israel has repeatedly rejected such charges.
Its mission to the UN in Geneva said on X that the expert statement “illustrates how the Human Rights Council in Geneva has become a biased and irrelevant body”.
It especially called out one of the signatories, Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories.
“A rapporteur with a known record of antisemitic remarks — someone who should have long been removed from her position… leads a false and distorted declaration under the guise of a ‘human rights report’,” it said, adding that the expert statement “reads as though it were issued by Hamas’s propaganda office”.
In their statement, the experts said that “while states debate terminology — is it or is it not genocide? — Israel continues its relentless destruction of life in Gaza”.
“No one is spared — not the children, persons with disabilities, nursing mothers, journalists, health professionals, aid workers, or hostages,” the experts said.
They highlighted the devastating impact of Israel’s total blockade on aid to Gaza since early March.
“Food and water have been cut off for months, inducing starvation, dehydration, and disease, which will result in more deaths becoming the daily reality for many,” the statement said.
Israel’s statements about the blockade, they said, “showcase a clear intent to wield starvation as a weapon of war”.
The experts highlighted the responsibility of other countries to end the bloodshed, saying that “the world is watching”.
Countries continuing to support Israel, especially militarily but also politically, they said, risk “complicity in genocide and other serious international crimes”. – AFP
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