UN official urges Egypt to seize Israel-bound arms ship MV Kathrin

United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has urged the Cairo government to stop an arms ship from heading to the Israeli occupied Palestinian lands.

In an X posting on Monday, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories called on the officials in Egypt to seize the MV Kathrin, a German ship carrying arms and presently docked in Alexandria port.

"At a time when Israel is committing acts of genocide against the Palestinians," it is upon the Cairo government to stop the weaponry from reaching the zionist killing machine, Albanese said.

"This is not just a moral duty, but a critical legal obligation to prevent further atrocities," Albanese added.

"We must preserve the primacy of int'l law and human rights, lest we lose them when we need them most."

I understand Vessel MV #Kathrin, carrying a 150-metric-ton shipment of military-grade explosives destined for Israel's largest defence contractor, has docked in the port of Alexandria and may soon continue its journey. I implore the government of #Egypt to act and stop the vessel…

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) November 4, 2024

Albanese pointed out that all world countries "are under a legal obligation “to respect and to ensure respect” for the Genocide Convention “in all circumstances,” including ”international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to parties to an armed conflict.”

The United Nations' top court ordered the Israeli regime to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza, Albanese noted, adding that both the Human Rights Council and United Nations General Assembly had called for slapping an arms embargo on the regime.

"This is not just a moral duty, but a critical legal obligation to prevent further atrocities."

ICJ orders Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza

The United Nations

The German ship, which is carrying a 150-metric-ton shipment of military-grade explosives, arrived at Alexandria on October 28 after several countries refused it entry.

A group of Egyptian activists, including notable figures such as journalist Rasha Azab and award-winning human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Masri, have filed an urgent complaint to the Egyptian Public Prosecutor.

The group claims the German shipment of weaponry to the Israeli regime endangers both Egyptian and Arab national security and portrays Egypt as complicit in the Tel Aviv regime's genocidal war against Palestinian in the Gaza Strip.

"This is a serious violation of international and domestic laws," the complainants said in their statement, demanding the immediate seizure of the ship and an investigation into the Egyptian firm EMCO, which allegedly facilitated the ship's entry to Alexandria port.

The Israeli regime unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The occupying Israeli regime forces have killed more than 43,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

The Israeli forces intensified their deadly attacks in the northern Gaza Strip last month, cutting off the area from the rest of the besieged Palestinian territory, and blocking nearly all food aid from entering the region.

Leaders of fifteen different UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm, warning the situation in northern Gaza has deteriorated to an “apocalyptic” level and that the entire population there is “at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence.”

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