Israel is carrying out “one of the cruelest genocides in modern history,” U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese said Thursday, accusing it of using Gaza as a testing ground for weapons and urging a global arms embargo and suspension of trade and investment ties.
"The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is apocalyptic," Albanese told the Human Rights Council, where she presented her latest report. "In Gaza, Palestinians continue to endure suffering beyond imagination. Israel is responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history."
Albanese said official figures count over 200,000 Palestinians killed or injured, but leading health experts estimate "the true toll is far higher."
She denounced the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), Israel's new aid mechanism in Gaza, as "a death trap – engineered to kill or force the flight of a starved, bombarded, emaciated population marked for."
She highlighted the economic gains made during the war, noting that in the past 20 months, arms companies have turned "near-record profits" by supplying Israel with weapons used to bombard Gaza.
"Arms companies have turned near-record profits by equipping Israel with cutting-edge weaponry to unleash 85,000 tons of explosives – six times the power of Hiroshima – to destroy Gaza," she said.
The report also pointed to "213%" gains on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange since October 2023, describing a stark contrast: "One people enriched, one people erased."
Accusing Israel of using the war to "test new weapons, customized surveillance, lethal drones, (and) radar systems," Albanese warned that Palestine's defenselessness had made it "an ideal laboratory for the Israeli military-industrial complex."
She named 48 corporate actors, including arms manufacturers, banks, tech companies, energy giants and academic institutions, alleging that they are directly linked to a broader "economy of occupation" sustaining the Israeli state's actions.
"Weapons and data systems brutalize and surveil Palestinians," she said. "Colonies spread-financed by banks and insurers, powered by fossil fuels, and normalized by tourism platforms, supermarket chains, and academic institutions."
Under international law, she said, even a minimal connection to this system carries clear responsibility. "There is a prima facie responsibility on every state and corporate entity to completely abstain from or end their relationships with this economy of occupation."
In a direct appeal to states, Albanese called for bold steps. "Member states must impose a full arms embargo on Israel, suspend all trade agreements and investment relations, and enforce accountability, ensuring that corporate entities face legal consequences for their involvement in serious violations of international law."
She also called on businesses to act, stressing: "Corporate entities must urgently cease all business activities and terminate relationships directly linked with, contributing to, and causing human rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people."
Albanese said she no longer believed ignorance or ideology were sufficient explanations for global inaction. "In the face of genocide-so visible, so livestreamed-these explanations fall short."
She concluded with a call for civil society to play its part, saying: "Trade unions, lawyers, civil society groups, and ordinary citizens should encourage such behavioral change from the side of businesses and governments by pressing for boycotts, divestments, sanctions, and accountability. What comes next depends on all of us."
