Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, accused Israel of committing genocide and described Gaza as “the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century” in a statement on X, on Saturday.
“Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at a time, one refugee camp at a time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time,” Albanese wrote.
Albanese’s commentary followed an Israeli airstrike on Al-Taba’een School in the Al-Daraj district of Gaza. Palestinian officials reported that at least 100 civilians were killed in the attack.
She criticized the deployment of U.S. and European weapons in the attacks and expressed concern over the failure of all “civilized nations” to take action in response to the situation in Gaza.
“May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective failure to protect them, in honoring the most basic meaning of (international) law,” she added.
Israel is currently facing genocide charges before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has ordered an immediate halt to its military operations in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than one million Palestinians had sought refuge before its invasion on May.
The death toll in Gaza has risen to 39,790 since the conflict began on October 7, with more than 92,000 people injured, the vast majority of whom are women and children, according to the latest figures from the Palestinian health ministry.