The United Nations Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian Territory said it was time for countries around the world to take concrete actions to stop Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese spoke to deputies from the 30 national conferences of the Colombian capital on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s brutal attacks and countries could try to stop the attacks in the enclaves.
Many participating countries describe Israel’s war on Gaza as Genocide against Palestinians.
According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 58,000 people have been killed since the Israeli attack in October 2023. Israeli forces also imposed several blockades on the territory throughout the war, pushing Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to the brink of hunger.
“Every state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the State of Israel … and make sure that its private sector does the same,” Albanis said. “The structure of the Israeli economy is to maintain the now-turned genocide occupation.”
Cohort of Palestinian boys with a portion of hot food distributed by Charity Kitchen in Nuseirat refugee camp in Central Gaza Strip on July 15, 2025 [Eyad Baba/AFP]
The two-day meetings organized by Colombia and South Africa were mainly attended by developing countries, although Spain, Ireland and China also sent representatives.
The conference, co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia, exported coal to Israeli power plants last year. It includes participation from members of the Black Teeth Group, a coalition of eight countries that promised military ties with Israel earlier this year International Criminal Court Arrest Warrant Oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For decades, South Africa-managed African National Congress party has restricted Israel’s policy to the “motherland” under the Gaza and the West Bank with its harsh apartheid regime of harsh white minority rule before the end of 1994 with its own history of oppression.
The gatherings were taken by the EU against Israel, including a ban on illegal Israeli settlement imports, arms embargoes and personal sanctions against Israeli officials who were believed to have blocked a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Mauricio Jaramillo said on Monday that countries participating in the Bogota conference, including Qatar and Turkiye, will discuss diplomatic and judicial measures to put more pressure on Israel to stop its attacks.
Colombian officials described Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as an offense to the international order.
“It’s not just about Palestine,” Jaramilo said in a press conference. “It’s about defending international law and the right to self-determination.”
The comments of Special Rapporteur Albanese responded to her address to the EU earlier on Tuesday. The group’s foreign ministers have been meeting in Brussels to discuss possible actions against Israel.
Albanis wrote in a series of articles about X that the EU “legally” suspended its association agreement with Israel, citing obligations under international law.
Albanis said the EU is not only Israel’s top trading partner, but its top investment partner, almost twice the size of the United States, “with economic transactions and occupation, apartheid and genocide are ruthless and sympathetic.”
