NEW YORK, June 29, 2026 (WAFA) - Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, stressed that “Gaza still faces profound uncertainty and immense human suffering.”
Alakbarov briefed the 15-member Council on Monday, delivering an update to the UN Security Council on the implementation of resolution 2334 concerning settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
He also focused much of his briefing on the implementation of resolution 2803 (2025), through which the Council endorsed the United States-facilitated Comprehensive Peace Plan in Gaza in October 2025 and authorized the deployment of an international stabilization force.
“The legitimate needs, concerns and aspirations of the people of Gaza must be addressed through the full implementation of [that resolution],” stressed the Deputy Special Coordinator. “Instead, the situations in both Gaza and the West Bank have remained volatile.”
He said that Israeli air strikes and military operations have continued across Gaza, resulting in further fatalities and bringing the total killed since the ceasefire to over 1,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, he said, Israeli forces continue to expand their territorial control, now holding approximately 70 per cent of the Strip. “This encroachment of areas under Israeli control is reducing the space available to civilians,” he said. “Palestinians in Gaza are concentrated in increasingly limited areas, living amid insecurity and violence.”
Turning attention to the ceasefire announced eight months ago in Gaza, he said that the strip still faces profound uncertainty and immense human suffering.
“I condemn the continued killing and injury of civilians in Gaza, including women and children,” he said. He also expressed particular concern over recent increasing calls for a resumption of widespread hostilities in Gaza.
Turning to the West Bank, where the situation continues to deteriorate, he said Israeli military activity continued in Jenin, displacing Palestinians. He voiced concern over escalating violence in the West Bank, adding: “I am appalled at the numerous instances in which officials glorified violence and engaged in dangerous provocations, incitement and inflammatory language.”
He strongly condemned Israel’s plan to establish military facilities at the Sheikh Jarrah compound of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in East Jerusalem, and urged it to rescind that decision.
T.R.
