{"id":8607,"date":"2026-01-14T18:01:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=8607"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:01:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:01:48","slug":"uns-albanese-israel-treats-storm-hit-palestinians-of-gaza-as-expendable-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=8607","title":{"rendered":"UN\u2019s Albanese: Israel treats storm-hit Palestinians of Gaza as \u2018expendable\u2019 | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Special rapporteur says Israel\u2019s nonresponse to the growing crisis reflects its attitude towards Palestinians.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on Palestine, has accused Israel of treating Palestinian lives as \u201cexpendable\u201d, linking the \u201chellish\u201d impact of a deadly winter storm in Gaza directly to the deliberate destruction of the enclave\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic on Tuesday as a deep weather depression pummelled the Gaza Strip, killing at least seven children, Albanese<\/a> said the weather disaster had exposed the depth of Israel\u2019s disregard for civilian survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is shocking even for me sitting far away. \u2026 Their lives seem like hell,\u201d Albanese said, reacting to testimonies of families sitting in mud and darkness as their makeshift shelters collapsed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear of family members \u2026 searching for relatives buried under rubble because damaged buildings collapsed on top of them due to the intensity of the rain.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u2018man-made\u2019 vulnerability<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While the storm is a natural event, humanitarian officials argued its lethality is political.<\/p>\n

James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF currently in Gaza City, confirmed that seven children had died as a result of cold temperatures. He stressed that these children did not die merely from the cold but also because a \u201cman-made shortage\u201d of food and medicine has left them with zero resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren aged two or three have severely weakened immune systems,\u201d Elder told Al Jazeera, describing the situation as \u201cextreme misery\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking about layers upon layers of rejection [of aid],\u201d he added, noting that Israel continues to block the entry of cooking gas and fuel needed for heating, leaving families defenceless against winds that weather experts said exceeded 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour).<\/p>\n

\u2018Expendable lives\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When asked about the lack of humanitarian response and Israel\u2019s move to cut ties with UN agencies during such a crisis, Albanese was blunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael generally does not care about Palestinian lives. On the contrary, it finds them expendable and [believes they] can be destroyed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She argued that the international community is complicit by focusing on other global conflicts while ignoring the \u201cgenocide\u201d that has left Gaza\u2019s population exposed to the elements without homes, electricity or drainage systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat more do we need to see? What have we not seen yet?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Call for arms embargo<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Albanese insisted that sending aid, which is often blocked, is no longer a sufficient response to such catastrophes. She called for immediate punitive measures against Israel to force a change in its policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cStates must cut trade ties, impose an embargo on arms exports and stop normal dealings with Israel,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

She emphasised that the \u201cstarting point\u201d for any solution must be the International Court of Justice advisory opinion ordering the dismantling of the occupation rather than political plans that ignore the reality on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u2018Winds like a tropical storm\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The vulnerability of the population was highlighted by Khaled Saleh, a senior weather presenter at Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

He explained that the depression brought polar winds reaching speeds typically associated with tropical storms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese winds can uproot trees, \u2026 so imagine what they do to worn-out tents,\u201d Saleh said, noting that the lack of infrastructure meant water had nowhere to go but into the shelters of displaced Palestinians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Special rapporteur says Israel\u2019s nonresponse to the growing crisis reflects its attitude towards Palestinians. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on Palestine, has accused Israel of treating Palestinian lives as \u201cexpendable\u201d, linking the \u201chellish\u201d impact of a deadly winter storm in Gaza directly to the deliberate destruction of the enclave\u2019s infrastructure. Speaking to Al […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}