UN rapporteur accuses Israel of committing 'genocide'

An independent human rights expert appointed by the United Nations has accused Israel of committing "genocide" during the war in the Gaza Strip, following an Israeli raid on a school that killed 93 people, according to local aid workers.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories, said on the social media platform X that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, saying that Israeli forces are attacking one neighborhood, one hospital, one school, one refugee camp, one safe zone at a time. Albanis said Israel uses "American and European weapons" to carry out such attacks against Palestinians. She added: "May the Palestinians forgive our collective inability to protect them."

In a report released in March, Albanis stated that there were "reasons" to determine that Israel had committed several acts of "genocide" during the Gaza war.

Israel has long been highly critical of Albanis and her mission, denouncing her report as a "ridiculous inversion of reality."

She said she also "of course" condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel that sparked the 10-month war in the Gaza Strip.

Special rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the UN.