UN rapporteur says Palestinians cannot be saved without 'massive intervention' to stop Israel

A UN special rapporteur on Tuesday said Palestinians in Gaza cannot be saved without a "massive intervention" to halt Israel's actions, urging states to cut economic, military and financial ties.

"How come the member states continue to engage with Israel?" Francesca Albanese, the rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, questioned during a press briefing and recalled that states have obligations "not to transfer weapons to a state that is committing war crimes."

Albanese warned that Gaza represents "just the beginning of this new escalatory phase of erasure of Palestinians," and added that similar patterns are already seen beyond Gaza, pointing to what happens in Lebanon and Iran. According to the rapporteur, "it will not stay there."

"I have no hope whatsoever that the Palestinians in Gaza will be saved if there is no massive intervention to stop Israel," she said, underlining that "the most peaceful way to stop Israel is to cut ties, economic ties, military ties and financial ties."

Albanese also said the situation is "worsening" despite a ceasefire in Gaza, noting that since the beginning of the ceasefire, Israel has killed 650 Palestinians in Gaza, while many remain in tents yet continue to be targeted.

She stressed that the worsening conditions are "not a coincidence" but "intentional," pointing to continued destruction, starvation, and suffering.

The rapporteur also detailed abuses against detainees in her latest report on torture and genocide, including "severe beatings, intentional bone breaking, prolonged shackling and blindfolding, sleep deprivation, starvation, denial of medical care, sexual abuse, rape," affecting men, women and children, and said: "An unprecedented number of detainees have died in custody."

Responding to Israeli criticism of her report, she said: "Israel can say what it wants. It still needs to be held accountable. Its leaders deserve to be in The Hague."

Albanese, launching her report on Monday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, said Israel "has effectively been given a license to torture Palestinians because most of your governments, your ministers, have allowed it."

She said the report documented the "ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people," highlighting "Israel's widespread and systematic use of torture, alongside the creation of a torturous environment against Palestinians."

According to the report, between October 2023 and January 2026, Israeli forces arrested more than 18,500 Palestinians, including children, while nearly 100 died in custody and about 4,000 remain forcibly disappeared. Thousands have been detained without charge and held in inhuman conditions, the report said.