News - Middle East: A group of United Nations experts have warned time is running out to “prevent genocide and humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, expressing their deep frustration with Israel’s refusal to halt plans to decimate the besieged Gaza Strip.

“We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide,” the experts said. “The time for action is now. Israel’s allies also bear responsibility and must act now to prevent its disastrous course of action,” they said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The experts expressed “deepening horror” about Israeli airstrikes against the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza since Tuesday night, which have reportedly killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians, calling it a brazen breach of international law.
“The Israeli airstrike on a residential complex in the Jabalia refugee camp is a brazen violation of international law – and a war crime. Attacking a camp sheltering civilians including women and children is a complete breach of the rules of proportionality and distinction between combatants and civilians,” the experts said.
“The Palestinian people in Gaza, particularly women, children, persons with disabilities, youth, and older persons, have endured decades of hardship and deprivation,” said the experts, including several UN special rapporteurs on the rights to food, safe drinking water, and the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“We call on Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire. We are running out of time.”
Elsewhere in the statement, the experts welcomed the General Assembly resolution on protecting civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations, approved by an overwhelming majority of member states on 27 October.
“We received the resolution with hope, but the need for action is now,” they said.