Over 500 UN staff urge: Call Gaza war a genocide

Hundreds of employees from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) wrote a letter to Commissioner Volker Türk, urging him to explicitly describe the Gaza war as “an ongoing genocide.” The letter emphasized that the legal criteria for genocide in Israel’s nearly two-year-long war on Gaza have been fulfilled, citing the scale, scope, and nature of the violations in the territory.

The letter, sent on Wednesday and signed by the staff committee on behalf of more than 500 employees, stated: “The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has a grave legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide.” It further urged Türk to take a “clear and public” stance.

The letter also warned: “Failure to denounce the ongoing genocide undermines the credibility of the United Nations and the entire human rights system.” It referred to the “moral failure” of the international community in preventing the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which claimed over one million lives.

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, reacting to the letter, said that UN Secretary-General António Guterres “fully and unconditionally” supports Türk. He added: “The determination of genocide is the responsibility of a competent legal authority.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, dismissed the letter—ignoring reports by independent international bodies—and described it as “the result of pathological hatred against Israel.”

According to Reuters, some human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of committing genocide, and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has also used this term. However, the UN itself has not adopted such wording. Officials have repeatedly said that determining genocide is the prerogative of international courts. In 2023, South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, but the case has not yet entered the substantive stage—a process that could take years.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk—who has repeatedly condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and warned of the growing risk of grave crimes—acknowledged that the letter raised serious concerns. In his reply to staff, he wrote: “I know that all of us share a sense of moral outrage at the horror we are witnessing, and a deep frustration at the international community’s inability to bring this situation to an end.”