🇮🇱 UK charity Oxfam has accused Israel of “actively hindering” aid operations in Gaza, defying orders by the ICJ to prevent genocide in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
In a new report, Oxfam outlined seven ways Israel prevents the delivery of aid, including by only opening two crossings into Gaza, imposing a dysfunctional inspection system that keeps supplies snarled up and cracking down on humanitarian missions.
UN expert Francesca Albanese spoke to the UN Palestinian Rights Committee on 31 October 2024. She called on all States to examine their relationships and avoid being #complicit in the crime of genocide being committed by Israel on the Palestinian people in Gaza. 🧵
"The current genocide is part of a century-long project of eliminatory settler-colonialism in @palestine, a stain on the international system and humanity, which must be ended, investigated and prosecuted.
The Special Rapporteur reminds all States of their legal obligation to act on their due diligence duties given the clearly serious risk of continuous breach of the Genocide Convention and Geneva Conventions, and urges States to consider and reach an urgent public determination as to what levers and tools each State has at its disposal to ameliorate that risk, whether acting alone or with other States, including at the United Nations; and to explain to the public and the international community the steps which it has taken and why.
Whether in compliance with the above due diligence duties or otherwise, the Special Rapporteur urges Member States to:
(a) Use all their political leverage – commencing with a full arms embargo and sanctions – so that Israel stops the assault against the Palestinians, accepts a ceasefire and fully withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territory in line with the ICJ Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024;
(b) Formally recognize Israel as an apartheid State and persistent violator of international law, reactivating the Special Committee Against Apartheid to comprehensively address the situation in Palestine, and warn Israel of possible suspension of its membership under Article 6 of the Charter of the United Nations;
(c) Support the deployment of an international protective presence throughout the occupied Palestinian territory;
(d) Develop a protective framework for Palestinians displaced outside Gaza, in line with international human rights and refugee law, while fully preserving their right to return;
(e) Support independent and thorough investigation(s) of criminal conduct, including genocide and apartheid, including through the application in national courts of universal jurisdiction over those suspected of such criminal conduct, including all relevant ancillary offences;
(f) Investigate and prosecute corporate entities and dual citizens involved in crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory, including soldiers, mercenaries and settlers;
(g) Ensure unhindered humanitarian assistance to Gaza and full financing and protection of UNRWA, including from attacks on its premises and personnel and from libellous smear campaigns, and ensure the continuity of its mandate in all fields.
The Special Rapporteur urges the ICC Prosecutor to investigate the commission of the crimes of genocide and apartheid by Israel, and investigate other prominent individuals mentioned in the present report.
The Special Rapporteur urges the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel to investigate the broader context of eliminatory intent and practices of Israel against all Palestinians (triple lens test), including those with Israeli citizenship and the refugees, and recent acts of genocide."
The pellets fired by most israeli drones are more destructive than bullets which would pierce a body straight through. Instead, the pellets are bouncing around inside bodies.
"I feel because you can't unsee what you have seen."
Respect to #SarahChampion, #Labour MP, for handling the hearing with so much care.
British surgeon giving evidence to the parliamentary International Development Committee:
"So the drones woud come down and pick off civilians, children."
The present video goes longer than the excerpt chosen by the #BBC. The national broadcaster notably chose to cut the phrases:
"We had one or two mass casualty incidents every day."
"It was a persistent act, persistent targeting of civilians day after day."
"This is not an occasional thing. This was day after day after day operating on children who would say, 'I was lying on the ground after a bomb dropped and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me'."
"I am an obstetrician and gynecologist who has worked in Gaza throughout the Israeli genocide. I have seen the destruction of Gaza's medical sector firsthand. My patients' stories tell the story of the genocide."
In her address to the Bogotá Conference earlier this week, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese explained why the world’s nations must suspend all ties with Israel: https://jacobin.com/2025/07/albanese-palestine-israel-cut-ties@israel