Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, issued a stark warning on Monday about the potential spread of what she described as “Israeli genocidal violence” from Gaza to the occupied West Bank.
Albanese, an independent Italian expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and speaking in her personal capacity, has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
In a new statement, she expressed concern that “the genocidal violence being carried out by Israel could extend beyond Gaza and spread throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.”
She elaborated that “Israeli apartheid targets both Gaza and the West Bank as part of a broader process of liquidation, replacement, and expansion.”
Since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on October 7, violence has escalated in the West Bank, where approximately 490,000 Israeli settlers live among 3 million Palestinians.
Albanese argued that Israel’s long-standing impunity has enabled the “de-Palestinianization” of the occupied territories, leaving Palestinians at the mercy of forces aiming to eliminate them as a national group.
She called on the international community to “do everything in its power to immediately end the threat of genocide against the Palestinian people” and, ultimately, to “end Israel’s settlement of Palestinian lands.”
