<\/p>\n
To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 02 June 2025<\/p>\n GENEVA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 UN experts* today called for safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition\u2019s ship carrying essential medical aid, food, and baby supplies to Gaza which departed from Italy on 1 June 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cAid is desperately needed for the people of Gaza to forestall annihilation, and this initiative is a symbolic and powerful effort to deliver it. Israel should remember that the world is watching closely and refrain from any act of hostility against the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and its passengers,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people of Gaza have the right to receive aid through their own territorial waters even under occupation, and the Coalition ship has the right to free passage in international waters to reach the people of Gaza,\u201d they said. \u201cIsrael must not interfere with its freedom of navigation, long recognised under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n They expressed serious concern for the safety of participants in the Freedom Flotilla, given Israel\u2019s repeated violent attacks on human rights defenders and UN and civilian humanitarian missions. The Coalition sent a similar ship in early May, which was bombed by a drone off the coast of Malta.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has imposed a full blockade on Gaza for 17 years. This blockade has been total and absolute since 2 March 2025, preventing aid from entering the Strip for over 80 days, only recently allowing a trickle of aid to enter,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Freedom Flotilla Coalition\u2019s ship approaches Palestinian territorial waters off Gaza, Israel must adhere to international law and comply with orders from the International Court of Justice to ensure unimpeded access for humanitarian aid,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n In March 2024, the International Court of Justice issued provisional measures recognising that famine and starvation were rampant in Gaza, creating a risk of genocide. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu for the war crime of starvation. \u201cYet on 1 March 2025, he announced that the entry of all goods and supplies to the Gaza Strip would be halted, flagrantly defying international law,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cOver six hundred days into Israel\u2019s starvation campaign and genocidal violence against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the situation is at its most horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n The experts stressed that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by Israel and the US, is using aid as a weapon of war to displace, humiliate and corral civilians. \u201cThese practices violate international legal principles of dignity, humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,\u201d they said, noting that child acute malnutrition had increased by more than 80% in March 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe accumulation of trucks carrying humanitarian aid at the Rafah crossing while civilians starve and die is not a failure of coordination \u2014 it is the deliberate and willful weaponisation of humanitarian aid, and the international community seems to be complicit,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cMember States have a legal obligation and a moral imperative to stop starvation and genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n The experts urged the UN General Assembly to authorise the deployment of peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian aid trucks under the \u2018Uniting for Peace\u2019 provision of the UN Charter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n *The experts:<\/strong>\u00a0Michael Fakhri<\/strong>,\u00a0the Special Rapporteur on the right to food<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0Francesca Albanese<\/strong>,\u00a0the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967;<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Tlaleng Mofokeng<\/strong>,\u00a0the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0Balakrishnan Rajagopal<\/strong>,\u00a0the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living;<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Farida Shaheed<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the right to education<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Pedro Arrojo-Agudo,<\/strong>\u00a0the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0Paula Gaviria<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0Mary Lawlor<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0George Katrougalos<\/strong>,\u00a0Independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0Reem Alsalem,<\/strong>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"