Israel says it eliminates Hezbollah ‘Golan Heights’ member, Syrian media report Israeli airstrikes

GENEVA: Israel is trying to make Gaza City unliveable in its assault on the enclave’s largest urban area and is endangering the lives of Israeli hostages, the top UN expert on Palestinian rights Francesca Albanese said on Monday.

“Israel is bombing using unconventional weapons ... it is trying to forcibly evacuate Palestinians. Why? This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable before advancing the ethnic cleansing of that piece of land,” Albanese told reporters in Geneva.

The Israeli mission in Geneva was not immediately available for comment.

Israel says the offensive to take control of Gaza City is part of a plan to defeat Palestinian militant group Hamas for good and that it has warned civilians to head south to a designated humanitarian zone.

However, the UN and numerous countries say its tactics amount to forced mass displacement and that conditions in the humanitarian zone are dire, with food in short supply.

Italian lawyer Albanese serves as a special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.

“The ongoing assault to take the last remnant of Gaza will not only devastate the Palestinians but endanger also the remaining Israeli hostages,” Albanese said.

She accused Israel of genocide and said the international community was complicit.

The nearly two-year campaign in the Palestinian enclave has killed more than 64,000 people, according to local authorities. Some rights groups like Amnesty International have also accused Israel of committing genocide, but not the United Nations itself. UN officials have in the past said it is up to international courts to determine genocide.

Israel rejects the accusation, citing its right to self-defense following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

In July, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for her actions, which he described as prompting illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.

Albanese said her attempts to travel to New York for the UN General Assembly in September to deliver a report do not look promising.

NEW YORK: Israel’s attacks on Gaza and its broader financial control across the Occupied Territories have triggered a severe economic emergency, UN independent experts warned on Monday, calling for an immediate end to measures that are causing “catastrophic harm” to human rights.

“Economic life in Gaza has been decimated by sheer physical destruction, blockade and siege, and repeated forced displacement,” they said in a statement, citing widespread damage to commercial, agricultural and industrial infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave, with unemployment surging above 80 percent, a sharp contraction in gross domestic product, halted trade and endemic poverty. Famine has already been declared.

They said a liquidity crisis across Gaza has been exacerbated by the destruction of banks and ATMs, and Israel’s blocking of new currency inflows.

The scarcity of cash has triggered hyperinflation, with the price of cooking oil increasing by 1,200 percent and flour by 5,000 percent by mid-2025.

Humanitarian workers are losing nearly 40 percent of their salaries just to access cash, while digital payments are frequently disrupted by electricity and telecommunications outages.

“The disproportionate civilian harm caused by Israel’s blockade and siege violates international humanitarian law and the economic and social rights of Palestinians,” the experts said.

They also highlighted how Israeli legislation restricting the UN Relief and Works Agency, and the US suspension of its funding, have jeopardized thousands of jobs and undermined humanitarian efforts amid Gaza’s economic collapse.

The financial pressure, they said, extends beyond Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, Israel has allegedly withheld and diverted tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority in violation of the Oslo Accords, disrupting salary payments and weakening liquidity.

“Israel has threatened not to renew the annual waiver of terrorist financing laws that allows Israeli banks to process transactions with Palestinian banks in November 2025,” the experts warned. “This would cut Palestinians off from the global financial system.”

They also noted the suspension of work permits for 100,000 Palestinian workers, eliminating a vital source of cash inflow that had accounted for nearly a quarter of gross national income.

“These measures exacerbate heavy economic losses from the illegal taking of land and the illegal exploitation of natural resources by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank,” the experts said.

They added that since 2023, purported counterterrorism measures have led to “unjustified de-risking” by international banks, resulting in account closures and blocked humanitarian transfers.

“Cumulatively, these measures seriously violate Israel’s obligations to guarantee the human rights to an adequate standard of living, work, food, water, sanitation, health, life, and freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the experts said.

They added that Israel, as an occupying power, is obligated under international law to sustain Palestinian economic life, not expropriate property or exploit natural resources.

The experts further emphasized that Israel’s economic restrictions impede the Palestinian people’s collective rights to economic self-determination, sovereignty over natural resources, and development.

The economic rights of Palestinians have been affirmed by multiple international bodies, including the International Court of Justice and the UN General Assembly, most recently at the High-Level International Conference on Palestine in July, which was co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.

The experts called on Israel to immediately lift the blockade and siege of civilians in Gaza, end violations of international humanitarian law, remove currency restrictions, restore cash flows, establish secure cash distribution systems and facilitate digital payments.

They added that Israel must also commit to the permanent renewal of the banking waiver in the West Bank and stop holding Palestinian tax revenues to ransom.

They also referred to the ICJ’s 2024 advisory opinion demanding an end to Israel’s “illegal occupation,” and noted that the UNGA has set a deadline of September, 17, 2025, for Israel to comply.

“The international community must act urgently to compel Israel to stop violating fundamental rules of international law, respect the economic rights of the Palestinian people, alleviate the humanitarian crisis and prevent financial collapse,” the experts said.

They include Ben Saul, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Attiya Waris, independent expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of states on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights; George Katrougalos, independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; and Carlos Arturo Duarte Torres of the working group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas.

They are part of the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the organization’s human rights system. They work on a voluntary basis and are not paid for their work.