Security Council meets on Middle East as Gaza crisis builds
Today 19:41
Israel: ‘No condemnation of Hamas, no recognition of atrocities’
UN Photo
Danny Danon, who has just started his second posting in New York as the Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN, said he had returned to a “different UN, a different Israel,” noting that a “war was forced upon us.”
“Ten months ago, a terrorist army invaded southern Israel,” he said, adding it had “committed heinous atrocities,” including the “torture, rape and beheading” of innocent human beings.
He added that it would be “lunacy” for Israel not to expect support from the Security Council to dismantle Hamas “the terrorist organisation responsible for these atrocities."
He said 320 days had passed since the 7 October “slaughter,” but all Israel had heard from the Council was silence, adding that there had been “no condemnation of Hamas, no recognition of the atrocities committed.”
Today 19:23
Today 19:20
Palestine asks Council 'when are you going to act?'
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine Riyad Mansour said there must be a ceasefire now, in line with the terms of resolution 2735 and with no further conditions and bad faith demands that go against the spirit and the letter of the resolution and that clearly aim at derailing the efforts for a ceasefire.
"When are you going to act?" he asked the Council," he said. "Deal or no deal, there is no excuse for Israel’s continued killing of innocent Palestinian civilians."
President Mahmoud Abbas had declared his intention and the intention of the Palestinian leadership to head to Gaza and called for leaders from around the globe to join him and to support this initiative, Mr. Mansour said.
In this vein, the ambassador called on the Security Council to take part in a visit to the Gaza Strip, to see first-hand "the horrors our people are enduring". He also called on Council members to support and push to secure the ability of President Abbas to reach the Gaza Strip and "work with urgency to stop the genocide and stop the crimes being perpetrated against our people".
The time for waiting is over, he said. The time for the implementation of a two-State solution will begin with a significant step in September, he said, asking the Council to impose an immediate ceasefire and protect all civilians.
Today 19:03
Russia: Council is ‘passive observer of ongoing bloodbath’
UN Photo
The acting Permanent Representative, Dmitry Polyansky, expressed regret in his speech that the Security Council has not been able to stop the fire in Gaza for ten months and "remains a passive observer of the ongoing bloodbath."
He recalled that two months ago, members of the Security Council adopted a resolution proposed by the United States, which was ultimately ineffective.
"Now is the time to review how this text has affected the situation on the ground," Polyansky stressed. "We can give an unequivocal answer to this: in no way."
Today 18:40
Algeria: 'Time to end the carnage'
UNRWA
Calling for a halt in fighting and humanitarian pause to ensure the prompt delivery of much-needed polio vaccines, Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama outlined the grim horrors on the ground, with Israel’s policies making “Gaza an unliveable place for Palestinians.”
“The situation is catastrophic,” he said. “It worsens on a daily basis, and there is no sign of hope.”
He said a permanent ceasefire is “the only path” to avoid further escalation in the region,” he said, demanding “the immediate and effective implementation of Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2735, which guarantees an end to hostilities, full withdrawal of Israeli occupying forces from Gaza and the return of Palestinians to their homes.
“It must be implemented now,” he said. “It is time to end the carnage in Gaza.”
He said the risk of Gaza’s tragedy duplicating in the West Bank is "very real", and the international community cannot remain silent.
Today 18:26
Today 18:14
China: ‘Blind faith in military victory’
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Military operations by Israel have continued in the Gaza Strip and there are “new casualties every day,” the Chinese Permanent Representative Fu Cong told the Council, adding that “Israel has turned a deaf ear to calls for a ceasefire.”
He added that Israel continued in its “blind faith in a military victory,” which would lead to more civilian casualties and said that a political solution was the only “fundamental way out” of the crisis.
He urged Israel to fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law including opening border crossing points to relief aid.
Meanwhile, he warned that peace in the wider region was “hanging by a thread.”
Today 18:02
Tor Wennesland warns of 'uncontrollable escalations'
Watch the full briefing to the Council from UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland.
Today 18:00
Latest evacuation orders leave civilians dangerously close to the frontline in Gaza
“Continuous” Israeli military evacuation orders in Gaza threaten already extremely vulnerable people in the enclave with further forced displacement, raising concerns that vital services could soon be cut off, UN humanitarians warned on . . .
UK: Ceasefire talks 'only way' to avert regional crisis
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
UK Deputy Permanent Representative James Kariuki echoed calls for "an immediate ceasefire".
"All sides need to focus on the recently restarted negotiations led by the US, Egypt and Qatar," he said. "These talks offer a vital opportunity to secure an immediate ceasefire that ends the conflict, gets the hostages out, allows urgent access to aid and de-escalates regional tensions."
Condemning the violence in the West Bank, he said France's Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory last week, conveyed three key messages: "that the current ceasefire talks were the only way to avert a full regional crisis; that the humanitarian situation was catastrophic and we needed to see immediate improvements; and that there had to be accountability for the appalling settler violence in the West Bank.
"I hope that we can all unite around those messages today," he said.
Today 17:42
France: Another call to end the war
UNRWA
Speaking for the French mission, Nathalie Broadhurst reiterated calls to the 15-member Council for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to put an end to the “suffering of the civilian population and to enable the massive and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid.”
She said that France echoed the concerns of the UN chief about the health situation, and in particular the resurgence of polio cases in Gaza.
“France calls on Israel to take all necessary measures to enable the population to be vaccinated,” she added.
Today 17:33
United States: 'We must speak with one voice'
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Security Council members then shared their positions, with US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield saying that no one in the region should take any action that could undermine talks. Highlighting points for the US bridging proposal for a deal, she said "we now have a path forward to save lives."
"As members of the Council, we must speak with one voice," she said. "This is a decisive moment for ceasefire talks."
The UN and other humanitarian agencies must prepare to provide a surge of assistance into Gaza, including vaccines.
"We urge Israel to continue working with humanitarian agencies to provide polio vaccines," she said, also drawing attention to the ongoing tense situation in the West Bank.
"It is urgent that we secure a ceasefire and a hostage deal now," she said. "Let us do everything in our power...to get over the finish line."
UN aid teams have warned that vital chorine supplies that are essential for purifying water are running out and deteriorating in Gaza, while humanitarians condemned new strikes on schools sheltering people displaced by the war.
Save the Children: ‘Surrounded by overwhelming destruction’
UNRWA
Speaking by video link from Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, Louisa Baxter, a doctor who heads up the international NGO Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit told the Council that she was “surrounded by overwhelming destruction,” adding that “more than 1.9 million people have been displaced and are moving through streets filled with rubble, rubbish, and wastewater.”
She told the meeting that “we are seeing the willful and repeated obstruction of humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” and that her team had been waiting for life saving medicines for four months.
Those supplies she said, “are held at the crossing gates by a myriad of rules and restrictions, many of them unwritten and arbitrary.”
Today 17:18
Today 17:08
UN Special Coordinator: 'We need a ceasefire now'
Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process briefing via videolink, said the war in Gaza with all of its human tragedy, the serious risk of regional escalation, and the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict and continued occupation are combining to create a combustible situation in the Middle East.
"Our individual and collective capacities to manage or resolve these crises are stretched beyond their limits. Any spark or miscalculation could set off a series of uncontrollable escalations – embroiling millions more in conflict.
"We need a ceasefire now," he said.
"We must continue all efforts to alleviate human suffering in the region – that means an immediate ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza, it means diplomatic steps for de-escalation in the region, and it means irreversible moves toward re-establishing a political framework to end the conflict and establish a two-State solution," he stressed.
"If any one of them remains unaddressed then prospects for a more stable, peaceful and secure region will remain elusive."
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