<\/p>\n
Fran\u00e7ais<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n 26 July 2024<\/p>\n 9694th Meeting (AM)<\/p>\n Decrying legislative and physical attacks against the United Nations agency providing the backbone for the humanitarian response in Gaza, two senior UN officials urged the Security Council today to act in the face of flagrant violation of international humanitarian law in the Strip, as Council members discussed ways to address the catastrophe unfolding there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a relentless and often-hourly struggle,\u201d said Antonia Marie De Meo, Deputy Commissioner-General for Operational Support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(UNRWA). \u00a0More than 2\u00a0million people remain \u201ctrapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction at a staggering scale\u201d, dominated by fear, thirst, hunger, disease, dehumanization, lack of basic sanitation and repeated displacement. \u00a0Moreover, blatant disregard for international humanitarian law is now commonplace in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n On that, she reported that the Agency\u2019s offices in Gaza are \u201cdestroyed beyond recognition\u201d, more than 560\u00a0displaced people have been killed while sheltering under the UN flag and, just recently, two UN convoys sustained fire despite authorization from the Israeli military. \u00a0Further, visa refusals hinder humanitarian work and recent Israeli legislation threatens to ban UNRWA operations in East Jerusalem, revoke privileges enjoyed by the Agency since\u00a01949 and designate it as a terrorist organization. \u00a0\u201cWe cannot afford this to become a new standard for future humanitarian operations in conflict zones around the world,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe campaign against UNRWA, attacks against its premises and legislative efforts to declare UNRWA a terrorist organization to end its operations are utterly unacceptable and endanger our operations,\u201d added Muhannad Hadi, Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. \u00a0Almost 10\u00a0months into this crisis, a safe enabling environment for the provision of humanitarian assistance still does not exist inside Gaza. \u00a0\u201cThe commitment or willingness of the aid workers is not the issue \u2014 it\u2019s the inability to achieve our mandate, and that is beyond our control,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n In the following debate, Council members voiced alarm over the bleak situation in which civilians in Gaza find themselves. \u00a0Many also pointed out that attacks against civilians \u2014 including humanitarian workers \u2014 are prohibited under international law and underscored the need for an immediate ceasefire. \u00a0Additionally, some expressed support for UNRWA, condemning continuing attempts to slander or hinder the Agency\u2019s vital work.<\/p>\n Any attempt to discredit UNRWA undermines the principles of international cooperation and solidarity, stressed the representative of Algeria, also rejecting any attempt to shift responsibility for the disaster in Gaza to the United Nations. \u00a0While calling for several measures to alleviate suffering in the Strip \u2014 including a \u201cmassive vaccination campaign\u201d through the World Health Organization\u00a0(WHO) to prevent the spread of polio among children \u2014 he added, however, that such measures will be \u201cuseless\u201d without a ceasefire.<\/p>\n The representative of China also opposed attempts to attack and discredit UNRWA and to \u201cthrow a spanner\u201d in the Agency\u2019s implementation of its mandate. \u00a0Also noting that almost two months have passed since the adoption of resolution\u00a02735\u00a0(2024), he pointed out that Israel has continued large-scale military operations while ceasefire negotiations are underway. \u00a0Therefore, the United States must apply greater pressure on Israel to help effect such a measure immediately.<\/p>\n That country\u2019s representative, meanwhile, called on the Council to maintain pressure on Hamas to reach a final agreement and begin its implementation without delay. \u00a0A ceasefire would create a safer environment for aid workers to conduct needed vaccination campaigns and provide other health interventions, he said, urging all parties to the conflict to do more to protect aid workers. \u00a0For his part, the President of the United States recently expressed to the Israeli Prime Minister the need to finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring all hostages home and reach a permanent end to the war.<\/p>\n Yet, Slovenia\u2019s representative urged the Council to demand from both Israel and Hamas the finalization of a ceasefire deal with a short deadline, additionally suggesting an Olympic truce while that deal is being finalized. \u00a0After that grace period, if a deal is still not in place, the Council should take further action to make Hamas and Israel comply. \u00a0\u201cThis is what we believe the Council could do to move beyond briefings and lamenting over the humanitarian situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no speech that can convey the shouts of a child being amputated or dealing with severe burns, the silent agony of a father watching his child turning into bones before his eyes until all life leaves his body, the tears in a doctor\u2019s eyes as he counts the days and hours in lives he could not save,\u201d said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, describing the horrors in Gaza. \u00a0\u201cIn a parallel world\u201d, he added, the Israeli Prime Minister stood before the United States Congress and \u201cclaimed Israel was not killing or starving Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s representative, detailing his country\u2019s \u201cextensive humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip\u201d, said that Hamas has twisted much of the aid intended for civilians into weapons of war. \u00a0He also stated that the UN not only falters in its duty to coordinate aid distribution, but that \u201cUNRWA is complicit in the perpetuation of this conflict\u201d.\u00a0 Noting that 115\u00a0hostages are still held captive by \u201cHamas Nazis\u201d, he emphasized that the \u201cmost crucial element for the end of this conflict has been excluded from this conversation\u201d.<\/p>\n The representative of the Russian Federation, Council President for July, took the floor at that point to state, however, that any Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza implies discussing the issue of hostages. \u00a0He added that Council members \u201cdo know what the formula is\u201d to end the conflict \u2013 \u201ca ceasefire is needed\u201d.<\/p>\n ANTONIA MARIE DE MEO,\u00a0Deputy Commissioner-General for Operational Support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East<\/u>\u00a0(UNRWA)<\/strong>, reported that more than 2\u00a0million people in Gaza remain \u201ctrapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction at a staggering scale\u201d, dominated by fear, thirst, hunger, disease, dehumanization, lack of basic sanitation and repeated displacement.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a relentless and often-hourly struggle,\u201d she stressed, stating that famine remains a risk and communicable diseases are on the rise.\u00a0 Children are bearing the brunt of this \u2014 with 625,000\u00a0\u201cdeeply traumatized\u201d children out of school \u2014 and she underscored that \u201cwe risk depriving an entire generation of girls and boys of formal education, sowing the seeds of hatred, resentment and future conflict\u201d.\u00a0 UNRWA is therefore committed to resume learning for all of Gaza\u2019s children, which will start in a few days with the provision of mental-health and psychosocial support, transition to informal learning and culminate in a return to formal instruction in schools.<\/p>\n Noting the Council\u2019s resolutions \u201caimed at ending this war\u201d, she said that \u2014 while their adoptions have been welcomed in New York \u2014 \u201cin Gaza, we have seen woefully limited impact\u201d. Blatant disregard for international humanitarian law is now commonplace in the Gaza Strip, and she reported: \u201cIn the past two weeks alone, eight UNRWA schools \u2014 all serving as shelters for displaced people \u2014 have been struck.\u201d Further, UNRWA offices in Gaza are \u201cdestroyed beyond recognition\u201d, more than 560 displaced people have been killed while sheltering under the UN flag, and just recently, two UN convoys were shot at despite coordination, deconfliction and authorization from the Israeli military, she said.\u00a0 Reiterating that \u201cno place\u201d and \u201cno one\u201d is safe in Gaza \u2014 including humanitarian workers \u2014 she also said that concerted efforts to dismantle UNRWA \u201ccontinue unabated\u201d. Many UN and non-governmental organization (NGO) staff have been refused visas to enter Israel, the visa of UNRWA\u2019s Commissioner-General expired more than a month ago and has yet to be renewed and, for UN staff who have been granted a visa, most are only two or three months long \u2014 therefore requiring repeated, lengthy bureaucratic processes.<\/p>\n She also reported that Israel\u2019s Parliament approved, on first reading, legislation related to UNRWA on 22\u00a0July, seeking to ban its operations in occupied East Jerusalem, to revoke UN privileges and immunities afforded to the Agency since\u00a01949 and to designate it as a terrorist organization.\u00a0 If these bills pass \u2014 \u201cwhich could happen as early as next week\u201d \u2014 she underscored that, while UNRWA will face the impact today, the entire UN system will feel it tomorrow.\u00a0 \u201cWe cannot afford this to become a new standard for future humanitarian operations in conflict zones around the world,\u201d she stressed.\u00a0 Noting that the campaign against UNRWA is often framed around the Agency\u2019s alleged failure to uphold the humanitarian principle of neutrality, she recalled the April findings of the independent review, which confirmed that UNRWA \u201cpossesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities\u201d.<\/p>\n She therefore urged those present to push back against calls to dismantle the Agency, stating that it exists because a political solution \u2014 or a Palestinian State that can deliver public services in its place \u2014 does not.\u00a0 Also calling on the Council to persist in its efforts to secure a ceasefire and to protect UNRWA\u2019s mandate, she expressed hope that the 15-member organ will speak out in one voice against attacks \u2014 \u201clegislative or otherwise\u201d \u2014 against the Agency.\u00a0Further, she said that the Council must advance a peaceful solution to this 70-year-long conflict as, the longer it persists, \u201cthe further we drift from achieving a peaceful solution\u201d.<\/p>\n MUHANNAD HADI,\u00a0Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process<\/u><\/strong>, reiterated the United Nations three asks: \u00a0a ceasefire, the ability to provide aid to the Palestinians in Gaza in line with humanitarian principles and an immediate and unconditional release of hostages.\u00a0 He shared that the women he met in Deir al Balah in Gaza on 9\u00a0July told him they wake up every day just to search for food and water.\u00a0 One woman also shared her plight, saying: \u00a0\u201cAs a mother, I am forced to witness my child starve and cry all night long.\u201d \u00a0Many women had suicidal thoughts.\u00a0 Thousands of these children have sustained horrific injuries such as third-degree burns, amputated limbs and profound mental trauma.\u00a0Children wander around camps for displaced people, often unaccompanied, exposed to huge risks and further injuries from playing in rubble filled with unexploded ordnance. \u00a0They are also at risk of contracting dangerous diseases, such as polio, from the mountains of garbage and rivers of sewage that flow through those settlements.<\/p>\n No one is safe in Gaza, he said, illustrating how \u201cthose who survive the bombs and bullets, still face the threats of hunger, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care\u201d.\u00a0 Among the destruction of social fabric and infrastructure, the UN and NGOs are sparing no effort to provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable.\u00a0 \u201cThe commitment or willingness of the aid workers is not the issue, it\u2019s the inability to achieve our mandate, and that is beyond our control,\u201d he said, deploring that, almost 10\u00a0months into this crisis, a safe enabling environment for the provision of humanitarian assistance still does not exist inside Gaza.\u00a0 Against this backdrop, UNRWA has been shouldering the burden of this crisis.\u00a0\u201cThe campaign against UNRWA, attacks against its premises and legislative efforts to declare UNRWA a terrorist organization to end its operations \u2014 are utterly unacceptable and endanger our operations,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, the UN is not in a position to provide the necessary assistance to the people in Gaza, let alone to scale up, unless specific factors are in place,\u201d he reported, highlighting the responsibility of warring parties to protect humanitarian actors.\u00a0 Current procedures in place for getting aid and fuel consignments from crossings to people in need are cumbersome, dangerous and costly. \u00a0All crossings must be utilized simultaneously, with streamlined procedures, including the Rafah crossing.\u00a0 Trucks carrying aid must be allowed to drive directly from Egypt and Jordan to the humanitarian destinations inside Gaza.\u00a0 Visa procedures for UN and other aid workers must be streamlined.\u00a0 The human impact of this conflict cannot be overstated.\u00a0 \u201cThis impact will haunt all of us, not for years, but for generations to come,\u201d he said, calling for a ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of hostages.<\/p>\n The representative of the\u00a0Russian<\/strong> Federation<\/strong><\/u>, Council President for July, spoke in his national capacity to sound the alarm over the catastrophic situation in Gaza and the staggering number of civilian victims.\u00a0More than 50,000\u00a0bombs were dropped on the enclave, destroying civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools.\u00a0 People in Gaza have no food, water and medicine.\u00a0 There is no hope that this suffering will end soon, he said, highlighting the testimony of an American reporter who witnessed snipers targeting children.\u00a0 \u201cThis is what you get from rhetoric stating that every Palestinian \u2014 as of three years of age \u2014 is a terrorist,\u201d he stated, recalling the statement of the Israeli Ministers at the early stages of the conflict.\u00a0 Voicing concern over the low level of humanitarian response, he said that the Rafah crossing \u2014 through which a significant volume of humanitarian aid used to be delivered \u2014 is closed and the roads are destroyed. \u00a0Also, 278\u00a0humanitarian workers died, including 197\u00a0UNRWA staff, and on 21\u00a0July, yet another human convoy into Gaza was shelled. \u00a0Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza amount to collective punishment and an attempt to totally eliminate the civilian population, he observed, criticizing that country\u2019s continued disinformation campaign about UNRWA, to which \u201cthere is no alternative\u201d.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Algeria<\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>urged:\u00a0 \u201cLet our voices thunder and our deeds resound \u2014 not one more day shall pass with starvation used as a tool of war in Gaza.\u201d\u00a0 Rejecting any attempt to shift responsibility for this disaster to the UN, he stressed that any attempt to discredit UNRWA undermines the principles of international cooperation and solidarity.\u00a0 He also stressed that the warnings of the World Health Organization\u00a0(WHO) regarding disease outbreak among displaced populations cannot be ignored, as preventable disease will claim more lives due to shortages of essential medical equipment unjustly restricted under dual-use pretexts.\u00a0 He therefore called for opening of all border crossings \u2014 including Rafah, to be operated exclusively by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority; deploying monitors in Rafah to ensure the smooth passage of aid; enabling UNRWA and other humanitarian actors to distribute aid throughout Gaza; and launching a \u201cmassive vaccination campaign\u201d through WHO to prevent the spread of polio among children.\u00a0 He added, however:\u00a0 \u201cWithout a ceasefire, all the above measures will be useless.\u201d<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0China<\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>said that \u201cthe unfolding tragedy in Gaza is testing the moral conscience of humanity and rocking the very foundation of international justice\u201d and \u201cthe red lines of international law and international humanitarian law have been crossed repeatedly\u201d. \u00a0It will be remembered as \u201ca stain in human history, one that is hard to scrub off\u201d, he said.\u00a0 Almost two months have passed since the adoption of Council resolution\u00a02735\u00a0(2024).\u00a0 While negotiations for a ceasefire are under way, Israel has continued its large-scale military operations.\u00a0 The United States must put greater pressure on Israel to help bring about an immediate ceasefire.\u00a0 China is firmly opposed to attempts to attack and discredit UNRWA and \u201cthrow a spanner\u201d in the works of the Agency\u2019s mandate implementation.\u00a0 Earlier this week, Beijing hosted a reconciliation dialogue by intra-Palestinian groups.\u00a0 They reached an important consensus \u2014 a significant step forward towards operationalizing the principle of Palestinians governing Palestine and preparing for post-war governance in Gaza, he reported, calling for a more broad-based, authoritative and effective international peace conference to work out a timetable and a road map to implement a two-State solution.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Ecuador<\/u><\/strong>, voicing concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, said that almost 200\u00a0UNRWA staff members have died there, the sanitary conditions are disastrous and the living conditions of the Gaza population are further deteriorating.\u00a0Noting that hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally, he said that an agreement has not been reached that allows for their release, the cessation of hostilities and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.\u00a0 He emphasized that the civilian population and humanitarian personnel must not be targeted, appealing to the parties to demonstrate political will and flexibility to conclude an agreement that will stop the violence and ensure a just and peaceful solution.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Mozambique<\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>underscored:\u00a0 \u201cThere is no plausible reason for the current unjustified and unbearable suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.\u201d\u00a0 The humanitarian disaster in the Strip must cease, and for this to happen, the war must stop immediately.\u00a0 Demanding the full implementation of relevant Council resolutions, he also urged Israel to comply with the rulings of the International Court of Justice calling for an immediate ceasefire and to allow unhindered humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza.\u00a0 In this, the opening of all border crossings \u2014 particularly Rafah \u2014 is critical.\u00a0 Further, he called on the international community to fully support UNRWA \u201cas it is a pillar of regional stability and a lifeline of hope for millions of Palestinian refugees\u201d.\u00a0 To this end, donors must provide the Agency with necessary, predictable financial resources such that it can operate and fulfil its mandate.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Sierra<\/strong> Leone<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>said that attacking UN convoys and humanitarian workers is a violation of international humanitarian law and hinders the ability of aid agencies to deliver critical assistance to civilians in desperate need, condemning the recent attacks on convoys of UNRWA and the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund\u00a0(UNICEF), the latter carrying five Palestinian children, including a baby to be reunited with the father.\u00a0 The International Court of Justice advisory opinions of 19\u00a0July point to one direction \u2014 ending the unlawful occupation by Israel of Palestinian territory, ensuring unhindered access to humanitarian aid and releasing the hostages and wrongfully detained prisoners.\u00a0 To achieve all of these, his country demands an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory.\u00a0 In that regard, he expressed his country\u2019s strong support for the mediation efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United States and urged Israel and Hamas to approach the negotiation with good faith, and the determination and courage needed for a positive outcome.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Malta<\/u><\/strong>, describing the situation in Gaza as \u201cbeyond catastrophic\u201d, said humanitarian aid continues to be blocked without any legitimate administrative reasons. \u00a0\u201cAlternative attempts at aid delivery via sea and air have failed, and the situation has quickly reverted to the status quo: \u00a0hopelessness,\u201d she stated. \u00a0Today, the man-made humanitarian disaster in Gaza is worse than at any point in the past 10 months.\u00a0 Millions of people face starvation and dehydration. \u00a0Humanitarian assistance remains politicized, and UNRWA continues to be targeted and vilified.\u00a0 No hospital in Gaza remains fully functioning, no university has been left standing and there are no more police or medical specialists. \u00a0\u201cThe social fabric has been completely torn apart, perhaps irreparably,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cAll that remains are individuals who have lost all sense of hope and purpose while struggling for their daily survival amid terror, starvation and criminality.\u201d \u00a0The Palestinian people cannot continue to endure this situation, which is effectively akin to \u201chell on Earth\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Switzerland<\/u><\/strong>, underscoring the need to restore immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access \u201cto the entire affected population, at all crossing points and throughout the Gaza Strip\u201d, said that this also applies to UNRWA.\u00a0 Incidents in which clearly identified UN vehicles sustain fire must cease, and he also condemned the continued use of inflammatory language \u201cdespite our repeated appeals to abandon it\u201d.\u00a0 Stating that attacks against civilians and the deliberate use of starvation as a method of warfare constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute, he urged that respect for \u2014 and implementation of \u2014 international law \u201cremain a priority for this Council\u201d.\u00a0 He also called for the immediate, unconditional release of hostages and the full implementation of the Council\u2019s binding decisions.\u00a0 However, these elements are only the first steps towards a political resolution of the conflict, and therefore Council members and States with influence must take the necessary measures to end the violence and relaunch dialogue.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Slovenia<\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>said that Gaza is twice the size of Washington, D.C. \u00a0It has been bombed over and over again for 10\u00a0months, and probably nothing is left there but a pile of rubble \u2014 the pile continuing to be bombed.\u00a0 In this situation, what is the Council doing?\u00a0 \u201cThis is the question that we are getting from our citizens,\u201d he said, adding:\u00a0 \u201cMy response to people in Slovenia was that we don\u2019t have the power to enforce a ceasefire.\u201d \u00a0As a Council member, his country\u2019s role is to send messages or offer proposals and pressure influential members to urge the warring parties to act.\u00a0 He then urged the Council to demand from Israel and Hamas the finalization of a ceasefire deal with a short deadline and call for an Olympic truce \u2014 a pause in fighting while the ceasefire deal is being finalized.\u00a0 After that grace period, if a ceasefire deal is still not in place, the Council should take further action to make Hamas and Israel comply, he said, adding that it is also time to start considering how to support transitional governance in Gaza, reconstruction and the final resolution of the conflict for the two peoples and two States.\u00a0 \u201cThis is what we believe the Council could do to move beyond briefings and lamenting over the humanitarian situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The representative of the\u00a0United States<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0said confirmation of vaccine-derived poliovirus in the Strip is worrisome and underscores the need to address the health risks to the Gazan population.\u00a0 \u201cThe fighting has brought Gaza\u2019s health system to the brink of collapse,\u201d he observed, also noting the failure of waste-management systems and critical infrastructure.\u00a0 During his meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, United States President Joseph R. Biden expressed the need to close the remaining gaps and finalize the deal as soon as possible, to bring all the hostages home and reach a permanent end to the war.\u00a0 However, the Council must maintain pressure on Hamas to reach a final agreement and begin its implementation without delay. \u00a0He further underscored the need to remove obstacles to the flow of humanitarian aid, restore basic services and protect civilians.\u00a0 A ceasefire would create a safer environment for health workers to carry out needed immunization campaigns and provide other health interventions, he stressed, urging all parties to the conflict to do more to protect aid workers.\u00a0 He also urged Israel to investigate incidents where humanitarian workers have been killed and injured, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent such incidents from occurring.\u00a0 Concurrently, the UN should investigate credible claims of its personnel who might be involved in acts of terrorism.\u00a0 He also called on the Russian Federation to stop politicizing the situation in Gaza, adding that Moscow \u201cdoes not help solve humanitarian crises, it creates them\u201d.<\/p>\n The representative of the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0stressed that civilians need better protection and designated civilian spaces, expressing concern over Israel\u2019s incursion into Khan Younis, as well as Al-Mawasi, the only remaining humanitarian zone designated as such by the Israel Defense Forces.\u00a0 \u201cCivilians in Gaza need much, much more aid,\u201d she added, stating that UNRWA is \u201ccentral\u201d to these efforts and reporting that London recently announced $27\u00a0million in new funding for the Agency.\u00a0 Further, she called for full cooperation with UN and humanitarian actors \u2014 including UNRWA \u2014 and granting visas, allowing equipment in and opening all aid routes to Gaza.\u00a0 Noting that the Israeli Government has seized more land in\u00a02024 than in the past 20\u00a0years combined, she underscored that this is \u201cunacceptable\u201d, runs counter to multiple Council resolutions and undermines the viability of a two-State solution.\u00a0 \u201cThe only way out of this cycle of violence is through diplomacy,\u201d she urged.<\/p>\n The representative of the\u00a0Republic of Korea<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>said: \u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s be clear; a ceasefire is the only way \u2014 as well as the critical first step \u2014 to alleviate the immense suffering that has lasted for far too long.\u201d\u00a0 UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian efforts in Gaza and essential for ensuring the dignified lives of millions of Palestinian refugees in the region, he said, rejecting any attempt to hamper its activities and legitimacy by a national institution of a Member State as \u201ca dangerous challenge\u201d to the architecture of global governance based on the UN that cannot be tolerated.\u00a0 The international community\u2019s commitment to a two-State solution is strong and steadfast. \u00a0\u201cAny inflammatory rhetoric, whether it is from Israeli politicians or from Hamas members, cannot have any impact on this firm global aspiration,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Japan<\/u><\/strong>, voicing concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, said \u201cdesperate Palestinians are facing acute food insecurity, if not famine\u201d, and are left searching for safe drinking water and sanitation, medical care and shelter.\u00a0Israel\u2019s repeated evacuation orders have forced nearly 1.9\u00a0million to relocate, many multiple times.\u00a0 Sounding the alarm over the heavy civilian casualties caused by the ongoing hostilities, she said the Israel Defense Forces\u2019 new military offensive in Khan Younis reportedly killed dozens and forced thousands to flee.\u00a0Furthermore, the reduction in the size of the so-called \u201chumanitarian zone\u201d in Al-Mawasi is deeply troubling, she said, stating: \u00a0\u201cThere is no safe place in Gaza.\u201d \u00a0Noting that prompt and extensive delivery of humanitarian aid is essential, she called for the immediate reopening of the Rafah crossing and underscored the need to ensure the safety of humanitarian aid workers.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0France<\/u><\/strong>, recalling that the Council has adopted four resolutions since 7\u00a0October\u00a02023, observed that \u201cnone of them have been implemented\u201d.\u00a0 He also recalled that France supported the United States\u2019 proposal that was endorsed by the Council on 10\u00a0June in resolution\u00a02735\u00a0(2024).\u00a0 \u201cSix weeks after that vote, it is time for that resolution to finally be implemented,\u201d he urged.\u00a0 Recent Israeli strikes on a camp for internally displaced persons and a school are unacceptable, and the long-term consequences on an entire generation of children are catastrophic.\u00a0 Emphasizing that the revocation of visas for UN personnel and recent incidents affecting UN convoys are also unacceptable, he called on all actors to ensure the efficacy of deconfliction mechanisms and to guarantee protection for humanitarian workers.\u00a0 In the face of immense need, UNRWA\u2019s role is \u201cessential\u201d, he added, reporting that France\u2019s support to the Agency totals \u20ac38\u00a0million \u2014 making Paris its fourth-largest donor.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Guyana<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0cited media and UN reports on details about the deeply inhumane treatment of Palestinian civilians both in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian civilians threw stones at Israeli security forces and elicited live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and teargas canisters in response.\u00a0 This is illustrative of the wider paradigms of this conflict, in which \u201cdefenceless Palestinians are pitted against a war machine intent on dispossessing, subjugating and annihilating them\u201d.\u00a0 The International Court of Justice\u2019s Advisory Opinion of 19\u00a0July answers how to stop this, she said, quoting from it:\u00a0 \u201cIt is for the General Assembly and the Security Council to consider what further action is required to put an end to the illegal presence of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 Many displaced Palestinians hold on to their home keys in the hope of returning to their homeland. \u00a0\u201cThis practice is ripe with messaging for this Council,\u201d she said, calling for Council consensus on mandating and enforcing the end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory to end the decades-long conflict.<\/p>\n The representative of the\u00a0Russian<\/strong> Federation<\/strong><\/u>, taking the floor a second time, said that the United States spends billions of dollars on supplies of weapons to Israel and Ukraine.\u00a0If the \u201cself-proclaimed coach\u201d of all international actors spent even a small share of those on humanitarian aid in Gaza and other regions in need, \u201cour world would be very different\u201d.\u00a0Underscoring that the Russian Federation provides humanitarian aid to Palestine through non-governmental organizations, the Government and the World Food Programme (WFP), he told his counterpart from the United States that \u201cbefore giving lessons to everyone, at least pay up your contribution to the United Nations and stop causing a liquidity crisis, which also hinders the humanitarian efforts of our Organization\u201d.<\/p>\n In response, the representative of the\u00a0United<\/strong> States<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>asked what percentage of its gross domestic product\u00a0(GDP) the Russian Federation spends on humanitarian assistance. \u00a0\u201cThe United States is a lead player on humanitarian assistance around the globe,\u201d he said, adding: \u00a0\u201cRussia is not.\u201d\u00a0 If Moscow spent 1\u00a0per\u00a0cent of what it is spending to carry out barbaric atrocities in Ukraine, then it could claim that it was doing something to solve humanitarian crises around the world.<\/p>\n The representative of the\u00a0Russian<\/strong> Federation<\/strong><\/u>, taking the floor again, asked what percentage of its GDP the United States spends on supplies of weapons around the world.<\/p>\n The Permanent Observer of the\u00a0State<\/strong> of Palestine<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>said that \u2014 while humanitarians in Palestine are trying to deliver on their noble mission in impossible circumstances and at the peril of their lives \u2014 UNRWA remains under attack. \u00a0\u201cThe baseless and shameless terrorism charge against a UN humanitarian agency is no longer a talking point, but a license to kill,\u201d he asserted.\u00a0 The killing, maiming and arrest of its staff members and the setting ablaze of its headquarters was a direct result of such incitement. \u00a0However, Israel\u2019s real target is the millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA to stay alive, he said, adding that there is \u201chardly any space left to operate\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no speech that can convey the shouts of a child being amputated or dealing with severe burns, the silent agony of a father watching his child turning into bones before his eyes until all life leaves his body, the tears in a doctor\u2019s eyes as he counts the days and hours in lives he could not save,\u201d he said, describing the horrors in the Strip.\u00a0 Refugees are running from one death to another as every school or tent sheltering them has been bombed. \u00a0\u201cIn a parallel world, Netanyahu stood before the [United States] Congress and claimed Israel was not killing or starving Palestinians,\u201d he stated.\u00a0While conducting barbaric attacks against the civilian population, he paradoxically described the conflict as \u201ca clash between civilization and barbarism\u201d.<\/p>\n Noting that anyone who refuses this\u00a0diktat<\/em>\u00a0is dubbed a terrorism supporter and an antisemite, he pointed out that anonymous Israeli sources are now criticizing United States Vice-President Kamala Harris for speaking with compassion about Palestinian victims. \u00a0Reiterating the need to implement resolution\u00a02735\u00a0(2024), he said this horrific assault on Palestinians must end and the opinion of the International Court of Justice \u2014 which spelled out the obligations of Israel and all UN Member States \u2014 must be fully upheld towards a more just, free and secure Middle East.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Israel<\/u>\u00a0<\/strong>said:\u00a0 \u201cWhat an absurdity to again be called to this Council to again discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza.\u201d\u00a0 Rather, the Council should be discussing Hamas and its agenda, orchestrated by Iran, to destroy Israel.\u00a0 Noting the recent recovery of the bodies of five hostages \u201cfrom a humanitarian zone\u201d, he stated that the Council has yet to hold a formal meeting on what started the war or on ways to advance the release of hostages.\u00a0 \u201cThis fact disgraces the Council,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cIsrael is, and will always be, committed to our extensive humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip,\u201d he went on to say, spotlighting Israel\u2019s allowance of 828,000\u00a0tons of aid, over 42,000\u00a0trucks via land routes, 9,931\u00a0pallets of aerial drops and 432\u00a0trucks through maritime routes to enter the Strip.\u00a0 Israel has also established 11\u00a0field hospitals \u2014 with another 3\u00a0under construction \u2014 and since 7\u00a0October\u00a02023, has consistently ushered in food, water, fuel, medical supplies and other essentials.<\/p>\n However, while Israel meets its obligations, he said that the world is being fed casualty numbers and data by the Hamas-run health ministry.\u00a0 And not only does the UN falter in its duty to coordinate aid distribution, but \u201cUNRWA is complicit in the perpetuation of this conflict\u201d, he stated.\u00a0 Stressing that Hamas has twisted much of the aid intended for civilians into weapons of war, he said:\u00a0 \u201cWhere we see a water pipe, Hamas sees a rocket; where we see a hospital, Hamas sees a headquarters; where we see a school, Hamas sees terror tunnels.\u201d\u00a0 Meanwhile, Hamas continues to strike Israeli villages, Hizbullah rains down rockets and the Houthis recently struck Tel Aviv.\u00a0 \u201cUntil you address the head of the snake in Tehran, there is no way to bring stability to the region,\u201d he underscored.\u00a0 Noting that 115\u00a0hostages are still held captive by \u201cHamas Nazis\u201d, he emphasized that the \u201cmost crucial element for the end of this conflict has been excluded from this conversation\u201d.<\/p>\n The representative of the\u00a0Russian<\/strong> Federation<\/strong><\/u>, Council President for July, took the floor again to state that any Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza implies discussing the issue of hostages, \u201cwhich was the case today\u201d.\u00a0 He added that Council members \u201cdo know what the formula is\u201d to end the conflict \u2014 \u201ca ceasefire is needed\u201d.<\/p>\n The representative of\u00a0Iraq<\/u><\/strong>, speaking for the\u00a0Arab Group<\/u><\/strong>, said that \u201cthe only way to save civilians in the Gaza Strip is an immediate and sustainable ceasefire\u201d. \u00a0However, Israeli military attacks against Gaza have continued unabated with the scarcity of medical and health care, the spread of disease and the lack of food, medicine and shelter. \u00a0The humanitarian suffering in Gaza must be addressed more decisively and seriously, he said, stressing: \u00a0\u201cWe cannot remain idle just watching this shocking suffering in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to close and destroy crossing points.\u201d\u00a0 He called on the Council to bring pressure to bear on Israel towards a ceasefire and allow relief operations in Gaza to be conducted safely, reaffirming the need for immediate action \u201cbefore it\u2019s too late\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fran\u00e7ais 26 July 2024 Watch complete video of the Security Council’s 9694th meeting 9694th Meeting (AM) Legislative Efforts to Declare UNRWA Terrorist Organization \u2018Utterly Unacceptable, Endanger Our Operations\u2019, Humanitarian Coordinator Stresses Decrying legislative and physical attacks against the United Nations agency providing the backbone for the humanitarian response in Gaza, two senior UN officials […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[660,759,807,834,867,891,897,906,969,5248,1593,1065,1074,5836,1119,1152,2321,2553],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[4868,1362,1817,1877],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,1945,2005,1741,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542,6541],"class_list":["post-299274","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-algeria","country-china","country-ecuador","country-france","country-guyana","country-iraq","country-israel","country-japan","country-malta","country-mozambique","country-palestine-state-of","country-republic-of-korea","country-russian-federation","country-sierra-leone","country-slovenia","country-switzerland","country-united-kingdom","country-united-states-of-america","document-category-press-release","document-source-arab-group-the","document-source-security-council","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-source-united-nations-special-coordinator-for-the-middle-east-peace-process-unsco","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english","document-language-french"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299285,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299274\/revisions\/299285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=299274"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=299274"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=299274"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=299274"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=299274"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=299274"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=299274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Watch complete video of the Security Council’s 9694th meeting<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Legislative Efforts to Declare UNRWA Terrorist Organization \u2018Utterly Unacceptable, Endanger Our Operations\u2019, Humanitarian Coordinator Stresses<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, INCLUDING THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Briefings<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
Statements<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n