The United Nations’ top human rights official says Gaza remains in a state of catastrophe, warning that limited aid deliveries and a fragile cease-fire have failed to halt preventable deaths, mass displacement and the collapse of essential services.
Addressing the opening of the 61st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Volker Türk delivered a stark assessment of conditions in the enclave more than four months after the fragile Gaza cease-fire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.
“The situation in Gaza remains catastrophic,” Türk said, citing Palestinians still dying from Israeli fire, cold, hunger and treatable diseases.
The aid permitted into the territory, he added, is nowhere near enough to meet the massive scale of need.
He also raised concerns about possible ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank, alongside what he described as accelerated efforts toward unlawful annexation.
