UN rapporteur for Palestine calls on Western countries to join Spain in ICJ trial against Israel

2 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, has asked Western countries to join Spain in the lawsuit filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for the risk of genocide in the Gaza Strip, appealing among other things to the blockade of humanitarian aid, the destruction of basic infrastructure and statements made by Israeli authorities.

“Congratulations to Spain for joining South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ. I hope this marks the beginning of more Western countries taking similar steps. It is not too late to stand on the right side of history,” he wrote on his social media account X.

Albanese then said that words of “condemnation” are meaningless “without action,” and that this is precisely what has allowed Israel to “intensify its illegitimacy” against the Palestinian people to the point of “genocide.”

The Spanish government submitted documents to the ICJ on Friday to join the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel, whose offensive on the Gaza Strip has already left more than 37,900 Palestinians dead, plus another 550 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem due to the actions of Israeli security forces and settlers. The Israeli army began these operations in response to the attacks by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7, which left 1,200 dead and 240 hostages.