Israel should not have retaliated after Hamas launched a wave of attacks, but instead should have called in the United Nations to “demilitarize” the terror organization, a UN expert said.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, appeared on The Project on Wednesday evening, where she was questioned by the hosts.
Ms Albanese, a 46-year-old human rights lawyer, claimed that Israel had no right to claim self-defence because Gaza is under its “belligerent occupation”.
“It could have relied on the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas if it was the target,” Albanese said.
Host Waleed Aly seemed momentarily baffled by the suggestion, before asking: “To be clear, are you saying that Israel should have asked the United Nations to send its own force to demilitarize Gaza and take away Hamas’ military capacity? would have taken on that task?’
Francesca Albanese (pictured), the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, appeared on The Project on Wednesday evening, where she was questioned by the hosts.
Ms Albanese compared the situation to the 2015 Bataclan terror attacks in Paris, arguing that the French state did not launch bombs on Belgium when the terrorist cell was discovered to be based in Brussels.
Instead, she alleged, they used law enforcement agencies to flush out the masterminds.
But eventually she recognized the disbelief in Aly’s voice.
“You have a legitimate question there. Would the United Nations have agreed to that?,” she said.
“The thing is, it has never been asked for, but I think it would be because it is the UN’s responsibility to ensure the maintenance of peace and security.”
She then called for a peacekeeping operation in Gaza, during which Israeli airstrikes killed 11,000 Palestinians.
“It could help reduce tension and further loss of life,” Albanese said.
Ms Albanese, a human rights lawyer, claimed that Israel had no right to claim self-defence because Gaza is under its ‘belligerent occupation’ (photo: Palestinians search rubble after Israeli attacks on Rafah)
A Palestinian woman, covered in dust, rushes into the hospital with her child in her arms after the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday
The United Nations estimates that at least 2,300 people — patients, staff and displaced civilians — are inside and may not be able to escape due to heavy fighting from the facility where supplies are nearly depleted.
At Al-Shifa in Gaza, doctors said patients and people seeking shelter were stranded in appalling conditions at the facility
The lawyer also questioned the Israeli military’s claim that Hamas is operating from a hideout in the basement of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, repeatedly claiming that the “burden of proof” was on Israel.
“We have seen five major wars before this one, and Israel has attacked hospitals and ambulances, claiming they were being used by Hamas for military purposes. In most of these cases, the allegations turned out to be false – in other words, prima facie,” Ms Albanese said.
She then condemned Hamas’ attack on October 7, claiming it involved “war crimes.”
But she claimed it was “preventable” because of the absence of peacekeeping missions and the attitude of the international community that “has given Israel carte blanche to continue its violations of international law against the Palestinian people.”
The October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas claimed the lives of around 1,400 Israelis, while 240 are still held as hostages in the terror organization’s tunnel networks under Gaza.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 11,000 since October 7, including more than 4,500 children – the equivalent of one every 10 minutes, according to the World Health Organization.
On Tuesday, Mrs Albanese said she did not blame Hamas for the conflict in Gaza, compared to her children’s misbehavior – and said the terror attacks were a “natural” response to Israeli rule.