Presenting her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Envoy for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, condemned Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza as one of the “most brutal genocides in modern history,” stating that Palestinians continue to suffer “beyond imagination.”
Albanese reported that while official figures cite over 200,000 Palestinians killed or injured, leading health experts believe the true death toll is significantly higher. She denounced the US-Israeli-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as a “death trap, designed to starve, bomb, kill, or force an emaciated population to flee.”
Highlighting the economic interests fueling the war, Albanese revealed that arms companies have earned near-record profits by supplying Israel with sophisticated weapons that have dropped 85,000 tons of explosives on Gaza—six times more destructive than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. She noted that the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has surged 213% since October 2023, exposing a stark reality: “One man has become rich, one man has been wiped out.”
Albanese warned that Gaza has become an “ideal laboratory for the Israeli military-industrial complex” to test lethal drones, new weapons, customized surveillance, and radar systems on defenseless civilians. Her report named 48 entities—including arms manufacturers, banks, energy companies, tech firms, and universities—directly linked to Israel’s “occupation economy.”
Calling for urgent action, she demanded that UN member states impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, suspend trade agreements and investments, and ensure accountability for corporate complicity in international crimes. She urged businesses to end all activities linked to human rights violations in Palestine.
Rejecting the narrative that global inaction stems solely from ignorance or ideology, Albanese said, “The genocide is so visible and broadcast live; these explanations are incomplete.” Concluding her address, she called upon trade unions, lawyers, civil society groups, ordinary citizens, and governments to impose boycotts, sanctions, and accountability measures to halt the genocide, stating, “What happens next depends on all of us.”
