A Palestinian man reacts as he and others gather to receive bread from a bakery, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
A Palestinian man reacts as he and others gather to receive bread from a bakery, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal has said that the idea of mass deportation of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip is “pure fantasy.”
In a press statement, he warned that such an act would be considered “one of the greatest violations of international law in recent centuries.”
Rajagopal, speaking on the sidelines of the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, addressed Trump’s plan to forcibly relocate Palestinians from Gaza, as well as ongoing ceasefire efforts in the Gaza Strip and its reconstruction.
He emphasised the difficulty of achieving effective reconstruction in Gaza as long as the Israeli occupation persists, with the continued risk of large-scale escalation remaining a threat.
Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, stated that Israel has been targeting the Palestinian people in a genocidal campaign across all the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
She emphasised that any attempt to separate Gaza from the West Bank remains a mere illusion. Albanese stressed that the distinction between Gaza and the West Bank is fictitious, adding that Israel has fragmented Palestinian land and people in such a way that it makes people believe Gaza and the West Bank are separate. But no, they are the same. Israel is targeting Palestinians as a people, and this is what defines the crime of genocide.
The genocide that began in Gaza is now spreading to the West Bank, and the Palestinian people are facing the same risks, she added.
Regarding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Albanese stressed that Israel’s attacks on the agency are not about denying the Palestinian right of return but rather about targeting the largest UN body in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel wants to eliminate UNRWA because it stands as a symbol of international presence in Palestine, one that rejects Israel’s ethnic cleansing policies.
The rights of Palestinian refugees, including the right of return and compensation, are protected under international law, not contingent on UNRWA’s existence, Albanese said.
She added that the call to suspend Israel’s UN membership should not be overlooked, given its assaults on UN institutions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A Palestinian man reacts as he and others gather to receive bread from a bakery, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
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