Trump administration sanctions UN investigator probing abuses in Gaza

The Trump administration has announced it's issuing sanctions against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel's 21-month war in Gaza.

The State Department's decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, follows an unsuccessful U.S. pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post. It also comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington this week to meet with President Donald Trump and other officials about the war in Gaza and more.

It's unclear what the practical effect the sanctions will have and whether the independent investigator will be able to travel to the U.S. with diplomatic paperwork.

Here's the latest:

State Department move to sanction independent UN investigator on Gaza gets mixed response

Outside groups who'd been criticizing Francesca Albanese celebrated what they called a long-awaited move, while advocates for the end of the war in Gaza condemned the action.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of the nongovernmental watchdog UN Watch, had been pushing for years for Albanese to be removed from her post, accusing her of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias. He called it "a bold and courageous move" by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that was unprecedented.

"Then again, no UN official has ever been condemned for Holocaust distortion and antisemitism by France, Germany, Canada, and both Democratic and Republican US administrations," he said in a statement.

But Muslim and human rights organizations blasted the effort as an attack on free speech and against an independent investigator.

"These sanctions reflect a dangerous attempt to silence international accountability for human rights abuses and war crimes. This is a blatant attempt to intimidate human rights officials who dare to speak the truth about Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza," the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement.