Aid groups demand action after UN finds genocide in Gaza

Leaders of over 20 major aid agencies working in Gaza called on world leaders to urgently intervene after a UN commission concluded for the first time that genocide is being committed in the territory, according to a joint statement published by the Norwegian Refugee Council. The humanitarian leaders released their September 17 appeal as world leaders prepare to convene at the United Nations next week, demanding member states act in accordance with the UN’s founding mandate from 80 years ago. The UN Commission of Inquiry joins a growing number of human rights organizations and leaders globally, including within Israel, in reaching this conclusion.

The agencies describe Gaza as deliberately made uninhabitable, with about 65,000 Palestinians killed including more than 20,000 children. Nine out of 10 people among Gaza’s 2.1 million population have been forcibly displaced multiple times into shrinking areas that cannot sustain human life. More than half a million people are starving as famine spreads, while entire cities have been razed along with hospitals, water treatment plants, and agricultural land. The Israeli government has ordered mass displacement of Gaza City, home to nearly one million people.

Aid workers describe meeting children so traumatized by daily airstrikes they cannot sleep or speak, with some saying they want to die to join their parents. Families eat animal food and boil leaves as meals while thousands have been shot trying to reach food distribution sites under armed guard. The humanitarian leaders say their warnings have gone unheeded as they witness horrifying deaths and suffering firsthand.

The organizations report being denied access and obstructed at every step while trying to defend Gaza residents’ rights and sustain humanitarian assistance. They warn that rhetoric and half measures are insufficient, demanding governments use every available political, economic, and legal tool to intervene and prevent further loss of life in Gaza.