UN official slams Israel's strategy of "masking atrocities"

GENEVA, May 30 (KUNA) -- A UN expert warned that the claims of the Israeli occupation on humanitarian aid were a deliberate strategy aimed at "masking atrocities, displacing the displaced, bombing the bombarded, burning Palestinians alive and maiming survivors." "We continue to witness a brutal humanitarian camouflage where the red lines have led to massive atrocities," Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement on Friday. "Israel pretends to promote humanitarian solutions in order to continue its control of Gaza and sustain its systematic denial of life-saving humanitarian aid to the starving population in the besieged strip," Albanese, of Italy, said.
"All camouflaged behind the language of aid to divert international attention from legal accountability in Israel's attempt to dismantle the very principles upon which humanitarian law was built," she noted.
She called the international community to "stop the clock on continued and deliberate misuse of humanitarian language and mechanisms by Israel aimed at obscuring and facilitating the commission of atrocity crimes in Gaza." Albanese expressed concern at Israeli occupation's claims of providing humanitarian solutions while maintaining full military control over Gaza and systematically obstructing the entry of life-saving aid to its starving population.
She also echoed concerns voiced by UN officials and humanitarian actors regarding the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" an aid distribution mechanism established by the occupying power with US backing operating entirely under military authority. The initiative has been widely criticised for failing to uphold international law and the core humanitarian principles of humanity neutrality independence and impartiality.
The UN expert pointed out that "on 27 May thousands of Palestinians flocked towards the foundation's distribution sites to receive food packages after several days without food." "Within hours horrifying images and videos emerged from Gaza demonstrating how this mechanism functions and how the Israeli army fired on unarmed Palestinian civilians. It seems that there is no limit to Israel's actions" she said.
According to authorities in Gaza at least three people were killed 46 others injured and seven remain missing.
"To starve a population for months and then shoot at them when they clamour for food is unmitigated cruelty" Albanese said urging the international community to "stop the clock on madness" and act before it is too late to save lives.
She also condemned Israeli occupation's intentional and deceptive use of humanitarian terminology and mechanisms as a cover to commit and facilitate atrocities in Gaza.
"The time for sanctions is now," Albanese said, adding, "as Israeli politicians continue to call for the extermination of babies while over 80 percent of the Israeli society according to Israeli media ask for the forcible removal of Palestinians from Gaza." She reiterated her call for "a full arms embargo and suspension of all forms of trade with Israel by all States" warning that in a world where consensus is growing that Israeli occupation is committing genocide in Gaza through relentless bombardment and starvation opposed only by a minority within Israeli society "silence is a betrayal of the United Nations' principles and values." "States can no longer sit by and watch. Every day that has passed since without tangible action from States is steeped in the blood of innocent Palestinians" Albanese stressed.
"The gravity of Israel's conduct is matched only by the complicity of States that continue to provide political and material cover, and by corporations that profit from Israel's crimes. Accountability can no longer be deferred," she went on.
She called on the UN and member states to urgently "establish an independent protection mechanism that Israel shall not stop it has no sovereignty over the occupied territory and it is about time States implement it." Albanese referenced the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on 19 July 2024 and its binding Orders of 26 January and 24 May 2024 in the case South Africa v. Israel which she said "provided States with the imperative to act." "The people of the world are watching and history will remember," she concluded. (end) imk.gb