GENEVA (7 May 2025) – Escalating atrocities in Gaza
present an urgent moral crossroads and States must act now
to end the violence or bear witness to the annihilation of
the Palestinian population in Gaza – an outcome with
irreversible consequences for our shared humanity and
multilateral order, UN experts warned today, demanding
immediate international intervention.
“While States
debate terminology – is it or is it not genocide? – Israel
continues its relentless destruction of life in Gaza,
through attacks by land, air and sea, displacing and
massacring the surviving population with impunity,” the
experts said.
“No one is spared – not the children,
persons with disabilities, nursing mothers, journalists,
health professionals, aid workers, or hostages. Since
breaking the ceasefire, Israel has killed hundreds of
Palestinians, many daily – peaking on 18 March 2025 with 600
casualties in 24 hours, 400 of whom were
children.”
“This is one of the most ostentatious
and merciless manifestations of the desecration of human
life and dignity,” the experts said.
The aggression
has transformed Gaza into a landscape of desolation, where
nearly half of the casualties are children and thousands
remain displaced. The group of experts cited over 52,535
deaths, of which 70 percent continue to be women and
children, and 118,491 injuries as of 4 May 2025.
Since
March 2025, coinciding with the end of the ceasefire, Israel
has reinstated an even harsher blockade on Gaza, effectively
trapping its population in misery, hunger, and disease.
“Under constant bombardment, amid homes reduced to rubble,
streets turned into zones of terror and a devastated
environment, 2.1 million survivors are facing the direst
humanitarian crisis,” the experts said. “Food and water
have been cut off for months, inducing starvation,
dehydration, and disease, which will result in more deaths
becoming the daily reality for many, especially the most
vulnerable.”
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Amid this carnage, Israeli statements
that fluctuate between outright blocking of aid and
conditional releases incumbent on other strategic goals,
showcase a clear intent to wield starvation as a weapon of
war, and uncertainty in the population for a basic need,
increasing the risk for trauma and mental health injuries,
they warned.
“Not only is delivering humanitarian
aid one of Israel’s most critical obligations as the
occupying power, but its deliberate depletion of essential
necessities, destroying of natural resources and calculated
push to drive Gaza to the brink of collapse further
corroborates its criminal responsibility,” the experts
said.
“These acts, beyond constituting grave
international crimes, follow alarming, documented
patterns of genocidal conduct.”
The experts
called on states to transcend rhetoric and take enforceable
action to immediately end the carnage and ensure
accountability for perpetrators.
“The world is
watching. Will Member States live up to their obligations
and intervene to stop the slaughter, hunger, and disease,
and other war crimes and crimes against humanity that are
perpetrated daily in complete
impunity?”
International norms were established
precisely to prevent such horrors. Yet, as millions protest
globally for justice and humanity, their cries are muted.
This situation conveys a deadly message: Palestinian lives
are dispensable, and international law, if unenforced, is
meaningless,” the experts said.
They recalled that
the Palestinian right to self-determination is irrevocable.
“States must act swiftly to end the unfolding genocide,
dismantle apartheid, and secure a future in which
Palestinians and Israelis coexist in freedom and
dignity.
“Arrest
warrants from the ICC against Israeli leaders for war
crimes and crimes against humanity require immediate action
and compliance. The ICJ Advisory
Opinion mandates an end to the prolonged occupation, and
the deadline the General Assembly has set is 17 September
2025,” the experts said.
Continuing to support
Israel materially or politically, especially via arms
transfers, and the provision of private military and
security services risks complicity in genocide and other
serious international crimes, they warned.
“The
decision is stark: remain passive and witness the slaughter
of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution. The
global conscience has awakened, if asserted – despite the
moral abyss we are descending into – justice will ultimately
prevail,” they
said.
Notes:
*The
experts: Francesca Albanese,
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Palestinian territories occupied since 1967;
George Katrougalos, Independent
Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable
international order;
Gehad Madi, Special
Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants;
Gina Romero, Special
Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and
of Association; Tlaleng Mofokeng,
Special
Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health; Astrid Puentes Riaño,
Special
Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and
sustainable environment ; Paula Gaviria
Betancur, Special
Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced
persons; Tomoya Obokata, Special
Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its
causes and consequences Nicolas Levrat,
Special
Rapporteur on minority issues; Farida
Shaheed, Special
Rapporteur on the right to education;
Ashwini K.P. Special
Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance; Heba Hagrass,Special
Rapporteur on the rights of persons with
disabilities; Pedro
Arrojo-Agudo,
Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking
water and sanitation; Graeme
Reid,
Independent Expert on protection against violence
and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
identity; Balakrishnan
Rajagopal, Special
Rapporteur on the right to adequate
housing; Michael Fakhri, Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food; Mary
Lawlor, Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
defenders: Olivier De Schutter,
Special
Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human
rights; Morris Tidball-Binz,
Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions; Siobhán Mullally,
Special
Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and
children; Jovana Jezdimirovic Ranito
(Chair-Rapporteur), Ravindran Daniel, Michelle Small, Joana
de Deus Pereira, Andrés Macías Tolosa, Working
Group on the use of mercenaries; and
Geneviève Savigny (Chair-Rapporteur), Carlos Duarte, Uche
Ewelukwa, Shalmali Guttal, Davit Hakobyan, Working
Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in
rural areas and Bina D’Costa (Chair),
Barbara G. Reynolds, Isabelle Mamadou, Working
Group of Experts on People of African
Descent.
