“The number of internally displaced persons in Lebanon has more than tripled in less than a month due to Israel’s relentless attacks on populated areas coupled with belated or ineffective evacuation orders, in violation of the principles of distinction and proportionality,” the experts said in a statement

The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as a result of more than 11 months of conflict has prompted questions about Western states’ long-standing political and military support for Israel, including from the United States and Britain which provide arms.

Highlighting the cases of children dying in Gaza of malnutrition, the ten independent UN experts said: “With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza.”

The group of 30 experts, including several U.N. Special Rapporteurs, said arms manufacturers supplying Israel should halt their transfers of war materiel, "even if they are executed under existing export licenses".

Political solution to crisis should not be considered foregone, UN experts say

​​​​​​​In a press release, the UN experts “expressed utter dismay over statements made by United States and Israeli officials threatening to retaliate against the International Criminal Court (ICC), its officials and members of their families.”

​​​​​​​The experts welcomed the order rendered on 26 January 2024 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for provisional measures in the case concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

“Israel has been intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October. Now it is targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys,” the UN experts said. “Israel must end its campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians.”

“The grossly disproportionate decision to suspend funding by some of the largest donor states defies the basic principle of humanity, and goes against States’ commitment to leave no one behind,” the UN experts said in a statement.

“They illustrated evidence of increasing genocidal incitement, overt intent to ‘destroy the Palestinian people under occupation,’ loud calls for a ‘second Nakba’ in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and the use of powerful weaponry with inherently indiscriminate impacts, resulting in a colossal death toll and destruction of life-...

“The strike against Al Ahli Arab Hospital is an atrocity. We are equally outraged by the deadly strike on the same day on an UNRWA school located in Al Maghazi refugee camp that sheltered some 4000 displaced people, as well as two densely populated refugee camps,” the experts said.

People in Gaza now at inescapable risk of starvation, say independent experts

“Israel’s continuous annexation of portions of the occupied Palestinian territory, now focusing on large swathes of the West Bank after unlawfully annexing East Jerusalem, suggests that a concrete effort may be under way to annex the entire occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law,” the experts said.

The UN experts are Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing and Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

There are some positive steps taken by government to address violence’s in country, Army spokesperson says

The UN experts also called on Israel to immediately lift the “closed military zone” it has imposed on the house of prominent Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro.

The experts are Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Fionnuala Ni Aolain, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial ...

“The killing of Abu Akleh is another serious attack on media freedom and freedom of expression, amid the escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank,” said the experts.