AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories has urged UN member states to intervene in the crisis in Gaza, accusing the international community of being "paralysed" in its reaction to the tragedy.
Speaking to FRANCE 24, Francesca Albanese said she stands by her earlier comments when the death toll in Gaza was half what it is now, that there is a "serious risk of genocide". Albanese accused Israel of aiming to destroy not just Hamas, but also Gaza itself.
Albanese said that Israel cannot claim the right of ‘self-defense’ under international law because Gaza is a territory that it occupies, adding: "Israel's actions in Gaza are not much different from recent massacres in other parts of the world such as Srebrenica and Rwanda. It is not that different from other massacres of civilians if you look closer. Genocide is a process, not a single act. It must be prevented but in Gaza - as in Srebrenica and Rwanda before - the world is just letting it happen."
The Srebrenica massacre was the July 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslims in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War, while Rwanda saw the 1994 genocide in which more than 1 million people are estimated to have perished.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing more than 20,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides displacement and a trail of destruction.
......................
End/ 257