Israel risks 'pariah' status over Gaza 'genocide': UN experts

United Nations rights experts warned Monday that Israel risked becoming an international "pariah" over its "genocide" in Gaza, suggesting that the country's UN membership should be called into question.

Several independent UN experts decried what they said was Israel's escalating violence and rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank, its disregard for international court rulings, and verbal attacks on the UN itself.

The rapporteurs, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the UN, also slammed Western countries' "double standards" and insisted Israel needed to face consequences for its actions.

"I think that it is unavoidable for Israel to become a pariah in the face of its continuous, relentless vilifying assault on the United Nations, [and] Palestinians," said Francesca Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur on the rights situation in occupied Palestine.

Albanese, who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza and who has faced harsh criticism and calls for her dismissal from Israel, asked if the country deserved "to continue to go unpunished for its relentless attacks" on the UN.

"Should there be a consideration of its membership as part of this organisation, which Israel seems to have zero respect for?" she rhetorically asked a Geneva press conference, speaking via video link from Tunis.

'Double standards'

George Katrougalos, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of democratic and equitable international order, demanded that Israel be held to the same standards as all countries, and condemned its repeated attacks on critical UN officials or agencies.

"We cannot anymore stand this kind of double standards and hypocrisy," he told reporters.

"I trust that the progressive and democratic citizens of Israel would not let their country become a pariah like South Africa had become during the times of apartheid."

Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN special rapporteur on the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, meanwhile warned that Israel and its allies blatant disregard for findings by international courts, the Security Council, and other UN bodies in connection with the conflict was undermining the organisation as a whole.

"We are blowing up the United Nations if we don't react," he warned.

Israel, which flatly rejects accusations that its offensive in Gaza amounts to a "genocide", responded Monday to Albanese's comments especially, charging that she was "abusing her inherently discriminatory UN mandate to spread her hate-filled political agenda, anti-Semitism and disinformation".

"Her attitude, including defending and justifying Hamas's actions, is a constant stain on the United Nations," the Israeli mission in Geneva said in a statement.

'Abyss'

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 41,252 people, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry.

A Hamas-led 7 October attack inside Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Albanese lamented that in the face of "unimaginable" suffering in Gaza, the world – first and foremost the Western countries – "continues to remain silent".

Arrojo-Agudo charged that the deprivation of water in the besieged Palestinian territory was "clearly employed as a weapon".

He said Gaza's population currently accesses on average just 4.7 litres of water per person per day, compared to more than 100 litres typically considered sufficient to cover daily needs.

Speaking before the UN rights council Monday, an Israeli representative rejected that allegation, claiming that Hamas had "completely mismanaged water in Gaza and is responsible for the irreversible damage to 95 percent of natural water resources".