Devastation continued in Gaza a year after a ceasefire took effect, with Israeli policies harming Palestinians across generations, human rights experts told a United Nations committee on Oct. 29.
The United Nations published their assessments on Oct. 30 under the title “UN Experts Sound Alarm over Continuing Devastation in Gaza, West Bank, at Palestinian Rights Committee Briefing”. The experts said the consequences extended beyond immediate suffering to damage Palestinians’ livelihoods, education and prospects for development.
The speakers assessed humanitarian conditions and human rights in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, alongside the accumulated effects of Israeli policies during the prolonged occupation. Their assessments covered the crisis a year after the Gaza ceasefire and the effects of settlement expansion, violence and forced displacement across generations.
The briefers said “genocide continues in Gaza” and said crimes against humanity and war crimes were being committed in the West Bank. They linked escalating violence to Israel’s occupation, which they described as unlawful.
The speakers included Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and Farida Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on education. Surya Deva, the UN special rapporteur on development, and Srinivasan Muralidhara, chair of the UN commission investigating the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, also addressed the committee.
The experts said Israeli policies and practices had harmed Palestinians’ rights and living conditions, with consequences passed from one generation to the next. They identified settlement expansion, violence and forced displacement as contributors to that damage.
Children and young people had suffered devastating harm, the speakers said. They said the prolonged occupation deepened Palestinians’ loss of land and homes and weakened their prospects for development that could be sustained over time.
The briefers also said the destruction of truth had become part of the destruction of a people. They said Palestinians were losing hope and the ability to imagine a future.
The discussion called for concrete steps to protect civilians and preserve human dignity, while supporting recovery and reconstruction. Palestinians must be able to participate actively, freely and meaningfully in those efforts, the speakers said.
The experts said all parties and UN member states had responsibilities under international law. They called for stronger accountability and action to secure the Palestinian people’s rights, alongside measures addressing immediate humanitarian needs and the longer effects of displacement and destruction.
