US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said he is imposing sanctions on the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In a post on X, Mr Rubio said the sanctions were being imposed on Francesca Albanese over her efforts to have the International Criminal Court take action against US and Israeli officials, companies and executives.
“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” he wrote.
The move comes following an executive order by President Donald Trump, issued in February, placing sanctions on the ICC and anyone assisting its work.
The order says the ICC has issued “baseless arrest warrants” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu − who is currently visiting Washington − and Israeli former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
It did not originally name the targets of the sanctions, but said it would deny visas and issue sanctions against the assets of ICC officials and their families. Later, Mr Trump announced sanctions on four ICC judges.
Ms Albanese, an Italian citizen, last week called on UN member states to impose an arms embargo and sever trade and financial ties with Israel, accusing it of carrying out a “genocidal campaign” in Gaza.
She told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that Israel was responsible for “one of the cruellest genocides in modern history” in its offensive against Palestinians.
