UN Special Rapporteur Albanese Says World Has Given Israel 'Licence to Torture Palestinians'

GENEVA (Afghan Verified) -- Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, presented a report titled "Torture and Genocide" to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

Albanese stated that "torture has effectively become state policy" in Israel. "Israel has effectively been given a licence to torture Palestinians, because most governments and ministers have allowed it," she said.

The report describes torture as extending beyond detention facilities through mass displacement, siege, denial of aid and food, unrestrained military and settler violence, and pervasive surveillance and terror in the occupied Palestinian territory. It argues that the destruction of living conditions has turned genocidal violence into a form of collective torture with long-term physical and psychological consequences.

According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 72,263 people and injured 171,944 others since October 7, 2023. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli authorities have arrested more than 18,500 Palestinians since October 2023, including at least 1,500 children as of February.

Israel's mission to the United Nations rejected Albanese's findings, calling her an "agent of chaos." In a statement, the mission said she abuses her UN platform to engage in virulent antisemitism, promotes narratives constituting Holocaust distortion and supports terrorist organizations.

Albanese urged UN member states to take action to "prevent and punish" acts of torture and genocide and to uphold international law. She warned that continued inaction risks undermining the rule of law.