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Over 500 UN employees urge rights chief to designate Gaza as genocide

Friday, 29 August 2025 9:00 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 29 August 2025 9:15 AM ]

A Palestinian woman carries a child, as they inspect the site of an overnight Israeli strike on a house in Gaza City, on August 26, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)

A large group of UN staff at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have formally urged chief Volker Turk to explicitly describe the Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as ongoing genocide.

In a letter, they said the legal definitions of genocide in the nearly two-year-long Israeli onslaught against the besieged coastal sliver have been met, pointing to the magnitude, range, and type of violations that have been documented there.

“OHCHR has a strong legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide,” said the letter signed by the Staff Committee on behalf of more than 500 employees, which called on Turk to take a “clear and public position.”

“Failing to denounce an unfolding genocide undermines the credibility of the UN and the human rights system itself,” it added.

The letter also points at the international body's perceived moral failure in not doing more to stop the 1994 Rwanda genocide that killed more than one million people.

The appeal to Turk, an Austrian attorney with decades of experience at the United Nations, received support from approximately a quarter of his 2,000 international staff.

It comes after Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday, according to local health officials.

Gaza's health ministry said the latest deaths brought the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire to 71 in the past 24 hours.

Guterres warns of unprecedented destruction and famine in Gaza

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued a grave warning about the escalating civilian casualties in Gaza, describing the situation as “without parallel in recent times.”

The letter echoes claims from various rights groups, including Amnesty International, which have already taken a swipe at Israel for committing genocide.

Independent UN expert Francesca Albanese has also used the term, but not the United Nations itself.

Turk has repeatedly condemned Israeli actions in Gaza, and warned of the increasing risk of atrocity crimes. He said the letter highlighted important concerns.

“I know we all share a feeling of moral indignation at the horrors we are witnessing, as well as frustration in the face of the international community's inability to bring this situation to an end,” he said.

He called for employees to “remain united as an Office in the face of such adversity”.

At least 62,966 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 159,266 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war on the besieged coastal territory.

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