NEW YORK, Monday, October 30, 2023 (WAFA) – Following four failed efforts to reach a consensus on a Gaza resolution, the UN Security Council met in an emergency session again today to discuss the ongoing crisis, amid continuing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and reported ground incursions.
UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, addressed the UN Security Council emergency session stating that nearly 70 percent of those reported killed in Gaza as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression are children and women. Nearly 3,200 children have been killed in Gaza in three weeks, surpassing the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019, he said.
Lazzarini, addressed the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, and highlighted the deep impact of the crisis on the staff of his agency – 64 of whom have been killed since 7 October – who continue to valiantly discharge their humanitarian duties while faced with overwhelming challenges and having lost relatives and friends.
“My UNRWA colleagues are the only glimmer of hope for the entire Gaza Strip, a ray of light as humanity sinks into its darkest hour,” he said.
The head of UNRWA also emphasized that the “handful of convoys” being allowed through the Rafah crossing is “nothing compared to the needs” of over two million people trapped in the enclave.
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs,” he stressed.
Also in his briefing, he reiterated that while the focus is on Gaza, “another crisis is unfolding in the West Bank including East Jerusalem.”
Palestinian fatalities this year are the highest since the UN started to keep records in 2005, he said, noting at least 115 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, including 33 children.
The movement restrictions imposed across the West Bank are impacting our services, including schools and health centers, he said.
“This cannot be ‘collateral damage’,” he stressed, adding that Israel is carrying out "collective punishment".
He outlined a dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with medicines, food, water, and fuel running out, adding that panic pushed thousands of desperate people to UNRWA aid warehouses and distribution centers.
“A further breakdown in civil order will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating. It will also make it impossible to bring in convoys,” he stressed.
He said the level of destruction across Gaza “is unprecedented, the human tragedy unfolding under our watch is unbearable.”
Despite half the population of Gaza being told to evacuate south by Israeli authorities significant numbers of Gazans have been killed as they sought sanctuary.
“I have said many times and I will say it again: no place is safe in Gaza”, said the UNRWA chief.
This “forced displacement” has left more than 670,000 in overcrowded UNRWA schools and basements.
The emergency meeting was reportedly called for by the United Arab Emirates, the sole Arab nation on the 15-member Council.
In the meantime, Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said the “true cost” of the latest escalation will be measured in children’s lives.
“More than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day – a number which should shake each of us to our core,” she said.
The Security Council should also prioritize what is now a worsening displacement crisis, with more than 1.4 million people in Gaza, the majority of whom are children, now displaced, she said.
“We must have humanitarian access through all crossing points into the Gaza Strip, through safe and efficient supply routes,” she said, also calling for a reversal of measures taken by Israel to cut electricity, food, water and fuel from entering the enclave from Israel.
“On behalf of all the children caught in this nightmare, we call on the world to do better,” she said. “Children do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. They need all of us to put their safety and security at the forefront of our efforts, and to imagine a future where all children are healthy, safe, and educated. No child deserves any less,” she said.
Meanwhile, China’s ambassador, Zhang Jun, said an overwhelming majority in the UN General Assembly had supported a humanitarian pause last Friday during the emergency special session but Israel has “turned a deaf ear to all this” by beginning its ground assault on the enclave.
Gaza has been under blockade for "16 long years" and the 2.3 million innocent people of the enclave are now living in “utter fear”. If left unchecked, he said, the situation will spiral further out of control and a greater catastrophe will be inevitable.
He called on Israel to lift its siege, rescind the evacuation order and restore supply of basic necessities, calling for a humanitarian truce to be set in place.
Addressing fellow Council members he said Gazans did not need more parroting of promises, rather “concrete actions” which could bring peace, reestablish the rule of law and save civilian lives.
“Inaction”, he said, is tantamount to a green light for the violence to continue, warning that history will record the Council’s choice.
Also, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UAE to the UN, recalled the resolution adopted by the General Assembly on Friday, supported by 121 countries – an overwhelming majority of the world - issuing an “unambiguous call” for an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce in Gaza.
They stood up for the humanitarian imperative, for human rights, for international law, and, most importantly, for the self-evident truth that Palestinian life is precious, equal and deserving of the full protection of the law, she said.
Nusseibeh said Security Council members repeatedly expressed their concern about the fraying of the international order. "If we lean on the General Assembly’s moral responsibility in other settings, we must also respect it in this one,” she said, noting that “this Council, ignoring the expressed will of the majority of the world, [is] maybe what breaks it.”
She reiterated that a ceasefire is needed now, as is ensuring safe, sustained and at-scale humanitarian aid reaches Gaza, and that access to electricity, clean water and fuel is restored.
Ambassador Nusseibeh went on to note that while eyes have been trained on Gaza, the occupied West Bank has not been spared from violence either.
“Israeli settlers are escalating their attacks against Palestinian civilians and forcing their displacement, holding Israel responsible for preventing these attacks.”
T.R.
