UN expert calls for full arms and trade embargo on Israel

Francesca Albanese, speaking on Thursday, July 2, 2025, at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, presented her latest report and asserted that Israel is responsible for “one of the most brutal genocides in recent history” in the Gaza Strip.

Describing the situation in Gaza as “apocalyptic,” Albanese urged UN member states to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and to sever all trade, financial, and investment ties with the regime.

In part of her statement, she also referred to the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” as a “deadly trap” aimed at “killing or forcibly displacing the population.”

Albanese had previously submitted reports detailing widespread human rights violations in Gaza and strongly criticized the continued military and financial support from Western countries to Israel.

Her latest report comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of Gazans continue to live in dire humanitarian conditions, with limited access to clean water, food, medicine, and shelter, while the civilian death toll continues to rise.