Hundreds of United Nations staff have made an appeal to the body’s human rights chief Volker Turk to publicly describe the war in Gaza as a “genocide”, saying his office’s failure to do so undermines the global rights protection system.

The appeal was made in a letter, signed by the Staff Committee on behalf of more than 500 employees at the Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and sent to Turk on Wednesday. A copy of the letter was obtained by Al Jazeera.

The letter said “a broad cross-section” of OHCHR staff believed that the legal threshold for genocide had been met in the case of Israel’s nearly two-year war in Gaza, “based on extensive reporting by UN mechanisms”, as well as independent experts.

Concerned staff felt that the OHCHR should “reflect

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