Israeli-Palestine crisis ‘catastrophe of epic proportions’: UN

The deadly retaliatory Israeli assault on the besieged Gaza Strip is a “political and humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions”, the UN’s human rights expert for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has said.

In an interview, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert, Francesca Albanese, said that since October 7 the Israelis had been “recklessly bombarded with an average of 6,000 bombs launched per week”.

Over 7,700 Palestinians had been killed since the Israeli bombing campaign began, with more than 19,740 injured, said the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

UNICEF, the children’s fund, reported earlier in the week that nearly 2,400 children were among the dead in Gaza, with women and children accounting for 66 per cent of the casualties. “All schools have been targeted one way or another,” Ms Albanese said.

“Schools have been hit by the bombings, hospitals have been hit by the bombings, and there has been a tightening of the blockade. Israeli leaders, one way or another, are blaming and holding all Palestinians in Gaza responsible and are punishing all Palestinians in Gaza for what Hamas and other military groups have done,” she added.

The human rights expert also criticized Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian lands and the mistreatment of Palestinians.

“We are talking of an occupying power. Israel is an occupying power vis a vis the Palestinians. There is no independent and sovereign Palestinian state,” said Ms. Albanese.

“The occupation has been the vehicle to colonize, brutalize, arbitrarily arrest and detain and to carry out summary executions against the Palestinian people.”