GENEVA

The UN human rights experts on Friday urged the member states to promote "immediate and permanent" cease-fire in Gaza ahead of the UN Security Council vote later in the day.

"Member states of the United Nations must use all measures at their disposal and their influence to promote an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza," the experts said in a statement.

The states "must mobilize now and act collectively to save Gaza from total destruction and mass mortality in order to preserve the raison d'etre of the United Nations," they said.

"Member states must act at the Security Council or the General Assembly as applicable to push for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza," the experts underscored.

They also welcomed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' decision to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since he assumed the organization's top post in 2017 for the establishment of a cease-fire.

In a letter on Wednesday, Guterres said: "I urge the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian cease-fire to be declared. This is urgent."

At least 17,487 Palestinians have been killed and more than 46,480 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

The Israeli death toll from the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, according to official figures.