The United Nations’s particular rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory has mentioned that it’s time for nations around the globe to take concrete actions to cease Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese spoke to delegates from 30 nations 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.
Most of the collaborating nations have described Israel’s warfare on Gaza as a genocide towards the Palestinians.
Greater than 58,000 individuals have been killed since Israel launched the assault in October 2023, in line with Palestinian well being authorities. Israeli forces have additionally imposed a number of whole blockades on the territory all through the warfare, pushing Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to the brink of hunger.
“Every state should instantly assessment and droop all ties with the State of Israel … and guarantee its personal sector does the identical,” Albanese mentioned. “The Israeli economic 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 principally by growing nations, though Spain, Eire and China have additionally despatched delegates.
The convention is co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia, which final yr suspended coal exports to Israeli energy crops. It contains the participation of members of The Hague Group, a coalition of eight nations that earlier this yr pledged to chop navy ties with Israel and adjust to an Worldwide Prison Court docket arrest warrant towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For many years, South Africa’s governing African Nationwide Congress occasion has in contrast Israel’s insurance policies in Gaza and the West Financial institution with its personal historical past of oppression underneath the tough apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Black individuals to areas known as “homelands”, earlier than ending in 1994.
The gathering comes because the European Union weighs numerous 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 mentioned on Monday that the nations collaborating within the Bogota assembly, which additionally embrace Qatar and Turkiye, might 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 mentioned in a information convention. “It’s about defending worldwide regulation and the appropriate to self-determination.”
Particular rapporteur Albanese’s feedback echoed remarks she made earlier on Tuesday addressed to the EU. The bloc’s overseas ministers had been assembly in Brussels to debate potential motion towards Israel.
In a collection of posts on X, Albanese wrote that the EU is “legally certain” to droop its affiliation settlement with Israel, citing its obligations underneath worldwide regulation.
Albanese mentioned the EU just isn’t solely Israel’s high buying and selling associate but in addition its high funding associate, almost double the scale of the US, and “commerce with an economic system inextricably tied to occupation, apartheid and genocide is complicity”.
