UN human rights expert warns Israel is inflicting 'wanton destruction' on Gaza

In exclusive interview, the woman in charge of investigating human rights in Gaza, told ITV News Correspondent John Ray accused Israel of "wanton destruction" and "starvation

Israel is carrying out acts of "wanton destruction" in Gaza, according to the United Nations' (UN) human rights expert on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

In an exclusive interview with ITV News, Francesca Albanese, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the OPT, accused Israel of inflicting "starvation" on Palestinians in Gaza.

The UN has warned of imminent famine after a month which saw aid levels reach their lowest in 2024.

Israel has insisted there is a military and moral justification for everything it does in Gaza, despite its military operation into the Gaza Strip having now killed more than 43,000 people - many of them women and children.

Ms Albanese said: "It is starvation. It is wanton destruction of civilian objects. It is mass extermination, extrajudicial killings. It is rape, torture.

"It is a collection of crimes that are being committed against the Palestinian people. We need to see all these crimes in their entirety, in their togetherness to understand what's going on."

'It is starvation. It is wanton destruction of civilian objects,' Francesca Albanese told ITV News

Ms Albanese's comments come after she addressed the UN last week on her latest report investigating the human rights of those living in the OPT, in which she and 30 other experts described "genocide" as taking place in Gaza.

The report, titled 'Genocide as colonial erasure', also accused Israel of a "long-term intentional, systematic, state-organised forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians".

Israel has previously been accused by South Africa of genocide in Gaza, with the allegations brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - the highest court in the UN.

The case was originally launched in December 2023, and 14 countries - including Spain, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland - have now announced their intention to join it.

Ms Albanese said: "The other 30 UN experts have called it a genocide. It's not only me, and there are historians and hundreds of legal experts, including Israeli historians covering genocide, talking about that.

"It's not only me but I'm the one who has investigated for one year in detail. So when I say genocide, is genocide.

Israel has accused the UN of bias, and alleged Ms Albanese of being antisemitic - something she strongly denies.

Ms Albanese, an Italian citizen, said she was "horrified" by the collective Western reaction to events in the Middle East, and urged the United States to turn off the tap of military support to Israel.

She said: "It has to happen now because it's 401 days too late already."

Ms Albanese condemned Hamas' October 7 attack, but added: "We shouldn't push for this false equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

"Of course Hamas has responsibilities. Of course Hamas has killed and committed other crimes against the Israelis."

Ms Albanese said: "As a Western person, I'm horrified by the way the West, instead of holding a higher moral ground, instead of abiding by its international obligations, which include the duty to prevent genocide, to stop genocide and to punish genocide, keep on reciting the mantra of self defence."

Asked if she would like to see the UK government describe Israel's military operation as genocide, Ms Albanese said: "I want to see the UK government taking responsibility for what they are doing now."

'The other 30 UN experts have called it a genocide. It's not only me'

The last 24 hours marked the expiration of a United States-set deadline calling for Israel to "surge" greater amounts of food and other emergency aid into the territory or risk scaled-back American military support.

US officials had asked for a benchmark of 350 aid trucks each day, but figures from the non-governmental organisation Refugees International showed an average of 42 entered into Gaza, and that some days saw as few as six.

But despite limited progress being made by Israel, a US State Department spokesperson confirmed that Joe Biden's administration will not reduce its backing.

Asked what the United States should do now, Ms Albanese said she doesn't believe "anything significant will change".

"But my point of reference is not the US, my point of reference is the United Nations, the International Court of Justice," she added.

Francesca Albanese told ITV News she believes there will be no 'significant' change in US-Israel relations despite limited progress on humanitarian aid entering Gaza

Around 1,200 people died and some 250 were taken hostage on October 7 2023 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have since died after the start of Israel's military operation into the Gaza Strip, according to the territory's Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Israel and its allies have repeatedly said it has a right to defend itself, but Ms Albanese questioned whether the loss of Israeli lives on October 7 justifies the "carnage", as she described it, unfolding in Gaza.

She said: "Is the killing of 1,000 Israeli citizens, which includes 200 or 300 military personnel, a justification to carry out this carnage?

"The question is important because if the answer is yes, I want to remind you and those who are watching us at home that just in the 16 years preceding October 7, Israel had killed more than 5,500 people, including 1,200 children."

'Is the killing of 1,000 Israeli citizens a justification to carry out this carnage?'

Ms Albanese added: "We see Israel is burning people alive, is burning them under the rubble.

"It has killed 17,000 children, 45,000 people and injured 100,000 people, many with life, enduring injuries. They are maimed forever. What are we going to do with it? This is the question we need to ask."

ITV News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) for comment.

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