NEW YORK, Tuesday, August 13, 2024 (WAFA) – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is set today to discuss the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip along with Israeli airstrikes on a school-turned-shelter in the Strip.
The Security Council Report website said that the UNSC will hold a briefing on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”. The briefing follows Algeria’s request, supported by Slovenia, for an urgent meeting to discuss the ongoing Israeli genocidal offensive in Gaza and the 10 August Israeli strikes on a school sheltering displaced people.
The anticipated briefers are Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and OCHA’s Director of the Financing and Partnerships Division Lisa Doughten.
It added that the 10 August Israeli airstrikes on the Tabi’een school compound in Gaza City is expected to be a key focus of the meeting. According to a 12 August OCHA update, the school was hosting hundreds of internally displaced families when it was hit. The airstrikes resulted in the killing of approximately 90 people, including six women and 11 children, according to figures provided by Palestinian officials in Gaza cited by OCHA. The update says that at least 70 bodies were reportedly transported to Al Ahli hospital, which “was overwhelmed by the mass casualty incident amid a critical shortage of medications, clean water and hospital beds”.
The strike has sparked an outcry by key international interlocutors. In a 10 August statement, the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory condemned the increasing frequency of Israeli strikes on schools where “forcibly displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, conducted with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities”. The statement says that the repeated strikes on these shelters “in areas to which the populations have been forced to move, and the consistent and predictable impact on civilians” suggest a failure to comply with international humanitarian law (IHL) obligations “[d]espite IDF statements that all measures are taken to avoid civilian harm”.
The dire humanitarian situation in Gaza is another expected focus of the UNSC briefing. Doughten may refer to new evacuation orders issued by Israel on 10 and 11 August for the area of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, which are forcing Palestinians, many of whom have already been displaced multiple times, to leave the area amid devastating humanitarian conditions.
The UNSC members are expected to express consternation at the high civilian death toll of the 10 August strikes, which some members likely to strongly criticise Israel’s conduct. More generally, members are expected to repeat their previous call for respecting IHL obligations, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution.
Members are expected to express concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and call for the urgent provision of humanitarian aid at scale. Several participants are likely to refer to the recent detection in the Gaza Strip of samples of variant poliovirus type 2. Noting that the virus’ circulation is putting unvaccinated children at risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on 7 August a vaccination campaign for children under the age of eight and called for “absolute freedom of movement for health workers and medical equipment” to carry out these operations safely and effectively.
Members are also expected to reiterate their calls for a ceasefire and express concern at the rising tensions across the Middle East and call for de-escalation.
K.F.
