With international calls for a humanitarian pause in hostilities going unheeded, the United Nations (UN) experts have said they were at “grave risk of genocide”.
Palestinian civilians have suffered shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine.
“Water is being used as a weapon of war,“ said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.
Also, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, before leaving for the Middle East on yesterday, said he would discuss concrete steps to minimise harm to civilians in Gaza, after saying earlier they were bearing the brunt of the conflict.
Over a third of Gaza‘s 35 hospitals are not functioning, with many turned into impromptu refugee camps.
“The situation is beyond catastrophic,“ said the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, describing packed corridors and many medics who were themselves bereaved and homeless.
“We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide,” seven U.N. special rapporteurs said in a statement in Geneva.
“We demand a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure that aid reaches those who need it the most.”
The latest war in the decades-old conflict began when Hamas fighters broke through the border on October 7.
Israel said they killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 hostages in the deadliest day of its 75-year-old history.
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