Australia and other western governments ‘paralysed’ in response to Gaza conflict, says UN expert

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, addressed the National Press Club about the Israel-Hamas war. She said Palestinian children were being left ‘without hope’. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

A United Nations expert has accused Australia and other western governments of paralysis over the Israel-Gaza crisis, saying leaders are either “muttering inaudible words of condemnation” or staying silent in fear.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a speech in Canberra on Tuesday that “violence begets violence” and warned that Palestinian children were being left “without hope” for their future.