UN Experts: Ceasefire Needed as Palestinians at 'Grave Risk of Genocide’

People sit in front of a bakery that was partially destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 2, 2023, as battles continue between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)

United Nations experts called on Thursday for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying time was running out for Palestinian people there who find themselves at "grave risk of genocide.”
Nearly four weeks of Israeli bombardment against the Gaza Strip in retaliation for attacks by Hamas gunmen in southern Israel on Oct. 7 have killed more than 9,000 people, made up of a majority of women and children, health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave say. Israel says it is aiming its attacks at Hamas, not civilians, and accuses the group of using them as shields.
"We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide," the group of experts, made up of seven UN special rapporteurs, said in a statement.
"We demand a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure that aid reaches those who need it the most."
The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva said it was preparing a response to the experts' remarks.
The International Criminal Court defines the crime of genocide as the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means, including imposing measures intended to prevent births or forcibly transferring children from one group to another.
On Oct. 28, departing senior UN human rights official Craig Mokhiber wrote to the High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, saying "we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes, and the Organization that we serve appears powerless to stop it."
According to Reuters, the UN rights office said that Mokhiber's planned retirement took effect this week and that his views were "personal" and did not reflect those of the office.
Aid supplies to Gaza have been choked since Israel began bombarding the densely populated enclave, with aid organizations saying it is nowhere near matching the needs of the people there.
"The situation in Gaza has reached a catastrophic tipping point," the UN experts said, adding that Gazans had been left with scarce water, medicine, fuel and essential supplies while facing health hazards.
The experts also pointed to Israel allies, which they said "bear responsibility and must act now to prevent its disastrous course of action."