UN experts have sounded the alarm over the Gaza famine and genocide, calling for an emergency meeting of the General Assembly before the 17 September deadline. They warned that the world must act now to end Israel’s occupation of Palestine and stop the atrocities unfolding in Gaza.
“Silence and inaction are not an option in the face of mass suffering,” they said. Israel, they stressed, must lift all barriers to food, medicine, water, and shelter. But even that would not be enough. Only an end to the siege and a permanent ceasefire can save lives.
The crisis has deepened since famine was officially confirmed by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). More than one million displaced people are trapped in Gaza City as Israeli forces advance. Families face starvation under siege. Already, 361 Palestinians have died from malnutrition, including 130 children. Thirteen deaths, three of them children, were reported in the past day.
Experts warned that half a million people are now starving. “The horrors of death by starvation will intensify if Israel is not stopped. Have states become numb to these numbers, blind again to mass violations of moral and legal duties?” they asked.
They described the famine in Gaza as man-made, deliberately engineered, and supported by both private and security actors. Such policies, they said, are an affront to humanity. They insisted that Israel, accused of creating genocidal conditions, cannot be trusted to control aid or access.
Under international humanitarian law, occupying powers must ensure the survival of people under their control. “Israel is doing the opposite,” the experts said. By blocking relief supplies, forcing repeated displacements, and attacking civilians at aid sites, hunger has been turned into a weapon of war.
The experts reported that more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed at distribution points in recent months, most in Gaza Humanitarian Foundation zones. Many were struck by indiscriminate or targeted fire. Some have even been forcibly disappeared. These failures, they said, breach the Fourth Geneva Convention and amount to international crimes.
They urged the General Assembly to act without delay. Their demands include opening all crossings under direct UN supervision, authorising UN-led humanitarian convoys, suspending failed systems that put civilians at risk, and deploying emergency naval aid through Mediterranean ports. They also called for the release of Palestinians and Israelis held arbitrarily and for a permanent ceasefire.
“The situation in Gaza is intolerable and unconscionable,” the experts warned. “Anything less than decisive action will make the international community complicit in these grave violations.”
The joint appeal was signed by a broad group of UN Special Rapporteurs and independent experts. Among them are Francesca Albanese (Palestine), Michael Fakhri (right to food), Irene Khan (freedom of expression), Reem Alsalem (violence against women), Balakrishnan Rajagopal (housing), Pedro Arrojo Agudo (water and sanitation), Astrid Puentes Riaño (environment), and Surya Deva (development).
Other signatories include experts on education, minorities, displaced persons, persons with disabilities, slavery, trafficking, racism, terrorism, cultural rights, and the use of mercenaries. They also include working groups on enforced disappearances, discrimination against women, the rights of peasants, and people of African descent.
In total, more than 25 Special Rapporteurs and expert groups signed the statement. These “Special Procedures” experts are independent, unpaid, and appointed by the Human Rights Council. They serve in their personal capacity, not as UN staff, and their views are their own. Their task is to monitor, investigate, and report on human rights issues worldwide.
The experts reminded the world that the General Assembly has both the power and the duty to act under its “Uniting for Peace” resolution. They urged states to rise above politics and stop the machinery of death before it is too late.
The statement was signed by a wide range of Special Rapporteurs and independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council:
- Francesca Albanese: Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, occupied since 1967
- Gina Romero: Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
- Mary Lawlor: Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Michael Fakhri: Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Nicolas Levrat: Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Paula Gaviria Betancur: Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
- Pedro Arrojo Agudo: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Siobhán Mullally: Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children
- Heba Hagrass: Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Tomoya Obokata: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- George Katrougalos: Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order
- Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada Tanck, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi: Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
- Jovana Jezdimirovic Ranito (Chair-Rapporteur), Ravindran Daniel, Michelle Small, Joana de Deus Pereira, Andrés Macías Tolosa: Working Group on the use of mercenaries
- Ashwini K.P.: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
- Ben Saul: Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
- Bina D’Costa (Chair), Barbara G. Reynolds, Isabelle Mamadou: Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
- Carlos Duarte (Chair), Shalmali Guttal, Davit Hakobyan (Vice-Chair), Uche Ofodile (Vice-Chair), Genevieve Savigny: Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas
- Astrid Puentes Riaño: Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
- Mai Sato: Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
- Irene Khan: Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Balakrishnan Rajagopal: Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing
- Reem Alsalem: Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences
- Elisa Morgera: Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
- Farida Shaheed: Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, and Mohammed Al-Obaidi: Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances
- Alexandra Xanthaki: Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights
Surya Deva: Special Rapporteur on the right to development
