Francesca Albanese addresses delegates from 30 international locations to debate methods nations can attempt to cease Israel’s offensive.
The United Nations’s particular rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory has stated that it’s time for nations all over the world to take concrete actions to cease Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese spoke to delegates from 30 international locations assembly in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, on Tuesday to debate Israel’s brutal assault and methods nations can attempt to cease the offensive within the besieged enclave.
Lots of the taking part nations have described Israel’s conflict on Gaza as a genocide towards the Palestinians.
Greater than 58,000 folks have been killed since Israel launched the assault in October 2023, in keeping with Palestinian well being authorities. Israeli forces have additionally imposed a number of complete blockades on the territory all through the conflict, pushing Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to the brink of hunger.
“Every state should instantly evaluation and droop all ties with the State of Israel … and guarantee its personal sector does the identical,” Albanese stated. “The Israeli financial system is structured to maintain the occupation that has now turned genocidal.”
A Palestinian boy queues for a portion of sizzling meals distributed by a charity kitchen on the Nuseirat refugee camp within the central Gaza Strip on July 15, 2025 (Eyad Baba/AFP)
Colombia, South Africa lead talks on Israel’s brutal offensive
The 2-day convention organised by Colombia and South Africa is being attended largely by growing nations, though Spain, Eire and China have additionally despatched delegates.
The convention is co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia, which final 12 months suspended coal exports to Israeli energy crops. It consists of the participation of members of The Hague Group, a coalition of eight international locations that earlier this 12 months pledged to chop navy ties with Israel and adjust to an Worldwide Legal Courtroom arrest warrant towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For many years, South Africa’s governing African Nationwide Congress celebration has in contrast Israel’s insurance policies in Gaza and the West Financial institution with its personal historical past of oppression underneath the cruel apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Black folks to areas referred to as “homelands”, earlier than ending in 1994.
The gathering comes because the European Union weighs varied measures towards Israel, which embrace a ban on imports from unlawful Israeli settlements, an arms embargo and particular person sanctions towards Israeli officers who’re discovered to be blocking a peaceable resolution to the battle.
Colombian Vice Minister for International Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo stated on Monday that the nations taking part within the Bogota assembly, which additionally embrace Qatar and Turkiye, will probably be discussing diplomatic and judicial measures to place extra strain on Israel to stop its assaults.
The Colombian official described Israel’s conduct within the Gaza Strip and the West Financial institution as an affront to the worldwide order.
“This isn’t nearly Palestine,” Jaramillo stated in a information convention. “It’s about defending worldwide legislation and the correct to self-determination.”
Particular rapporteur Albanese’s feedback echoed remarks she made earlier on Tuesday addressed to the EU. The bloc’s international ministers had been assembly in Brussels to debate potential motion towards Israel.
In a sequence of posts on X, Albanese wrote that the EU is “legally sure” to droop its affiliation settlement with Israel, citing its obligations underneath worldwide legislation.
Albanese stated the EU shouldn’t be solely Israel’s high buying and selling companion but additionally its high funding companion, almost double the dimensions of the US, and “commerce with an financial system inextricably tied to occupation, apartheid and genocide is complicity”.
