<\/p>\n
09 October 2024<\/p>\n
9744th Meeting (PM)<\/p>\n
One year after Hamas\u2019 attack on Israel and the resulting military response \u2014 now extending to Lebanon \u2014 senior UN officials warned the Security Council today that efforts to dismantle the United Nations\u2019 presence in Gaza and its surrounds would be disastrous for the people in need there, as speakers urged the Council to act.<\/p>\n
\u201cGaza is unrecognizable,\u201d said Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(UNRWA), detailing the dire situation in the Strip. \u00a0Emphasizing that children have not been spared, he observed that, \u201cwhile Palestinians are no strangers to loss\u201d, the dispossession of education is new. \u00a0\u201cWe cannot afford to lose an entire generation and sow the seeds for future hatred and extremism,\u201d he underscored. \u00a0\u201cThat is why UNRWA \u2014 beyond its life-saving operations \u2014 has resumed some learning activities in Gaza,\u201d he reported, detailing efforts to provide psychosocial services and to teach reading, writing and basic arithmetic.<\/p>\n
Also detailing the Agency\u2019s emergency polio-vaccination campaign \u2014 which vaccinated more than 500,000\u00a0children together with the World Health Organization\u00a0(WHO) and the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund\u00a0(UNICEF) \u2014 he stressed:\u00a0\u201cThe need for the Agency\u2019s services in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon has never been greater.\u201d\u00a0 Yet, \u201cwe have never been under fiercer attack\u201d, he noted. \u00a0Blatant disregard for international humanitarian law is crippling the humanitarian response in Gaza \u2014 \u201cthe most dangerous place in the world for aid workers\u201d, he said \u2014 pointing to the killing of Agency staff, the destruction of its buildings, shrinking operational space and efforts in the Knesset to end UNRWA\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese attacks set a grave precedent for other conflict situations where Governments may wish to eliminate an inconvenient UN presence,\u201d he said, urging the Council to decide \u201cto which extent it will tolerate acts that strike at the heart of multilateralism and compromise international peace and security\u201d. \u00a0Either the 15-nation organ can uphold the Charter of the United Nations and enforce international law without exception, \u201cor we can concede that the post-World War II rules-based international order is at an end\u201d, he stated.<\/p>\n
Echoing that was Lisa Doughten, Director of the Finance and Partnerships Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who said that ongoing legislation to stop UNRWA\u2019s activities would be disastrous for the provision of aid and essential services to millions of Palestinians. \u00a0\u201cIf approved, such [Israeli] legislation would be diametrically opposed to the UN Charter and in violation of Israel\u2019s obligations under international law,\u201d she stressed. \u00a0Detailing the reality on the ground in Gaza, she reported:\u00a0 \u201cUnfortunately, much of what I am about to say mirrors what we reported a month ago \u2014 widespread suffering persists while the humanitarian situation worsens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spotlighting the consequences for women and children, she relayed UNRWA\u2019s reports that 10\u00a0children are losing one or both of their legs each day in the Strip.\u00a0 \u201cGaza is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history,\u201d she said, also noting that women there are three times more likely to miscarry or die from childbirth. \u00a0\u201cWe cannot claim ignorance to what is happening \u2014 nor can we afford to look away,\u201d she emphasized. \u00a0She therefore repeated the call for the Council and Member States to act, adding:\u00a0\u201cThese atrocities must end.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the ensuing discussion, Member States underscored UNRWA\u2019s indispensable and irreplaceable role in providing humanitarian assistance.\u00a0Japan\u2019s delegate recalled that his country has been UNRWA\u2019s partner since\u00a01953 \u2014 even before it joined the UN.\u00a0\u201cThe Agency must be protected,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
Some speakers \u2014 including the United States\u2019 representative \u2014 also sounded alarm over legislation before the Knesset that could alter UNRWA\u2019s legal status.\u00a0 \u201cThis legislative proposal reflects the significant distrust between Israel and UNRWA,\u201d she observed.\u00a0 Israel must provide additional information regarding the allegation that Hamas is misusing UNRWA facilities, while the Agency needs to address these concerns. \u00a0\u201cIt is in no one\u2019s interest for the neutrality of UNRWA personal to remain in doubt,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Going further, the representative of the Russian Federation said that, if the bills before the Knesset are adopted, they will threaten the prospects of providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees in neighbouring Arab States.<\/p>\n
Calling UNRWA the backbone of the humanitarian operations in Gaza, Guyana\u2019s representative said that it \u201ccontinues to operate with a sword of Damocles dangling over its head\u201d.\u00a0 She urged the UN and \u201call peace-loving\u201d countries to not allow Israel to shutter the Agency.\u00a0 Further stating that the war in Gaza will set young people\u2019s education back by up to five years and will create a generation of \u201cpermanently traumatized Palestinian youth\u201d, she stressed: \u00a0\u201cThe implications of this setback for development cannot be overemphasized.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSilence has become more than mere complicity \u2014 it is active participation in these crimes,\u201d underscored Algeria\u2019s representative, adding: \u00a0\u201cAs we witness this barbarity, we must acknowledge that it is a glimpse into the future.\u201d \u00a0Stating that \u201cthose who remain silent or try to justify today cannot claim to defend the rule of law tomorrow\u201d, adding: \u00a0\u201cBecause there will be no law except the law of the jungle.\u201d \u00a0Urging the Council to act decisively to \u201cpreserve what remains of its credibility\u201d, he warned that, if it does not, \u201cthe Middle East will be engulfed in an unprecedented war\u201d.<\/p>\n
The representative of Mauritania, speaking for the Arab Group, echoed that warning, urging all possible measures \u201cto save whoever is left\u201d in Gaza and \u201cto save whatever is left of the credibility of this Council and the UN as a whole\u201d. \u00a0Otherwise, this war \u201cwill become a full-out war that will ravage the region and the whole world\u201d, he said. \u00a0T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s representative, similarly, urging the Council to enforce an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, also called on that organ to protect UNRWA. \u00a0\u201cThe Agency exists because a political solution does not,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n
The representative of Switzerland, Council President for October, spoke in her national capacity to point out that UNRWA is the largest humanitarian actor in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.\u00a0 She said that, following the first phase of the polio-vaccination campaign, the UN and its specialized agencies \u2014 including WHO and UNICEF \u2014 have demonstrated that they can fulfil their humanitarian aid mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael must do much more to avoid civilian casualties,\u201d stressed the representative of the United Kingdom, recalling that her Government has restored UNRWA\u2019s funding. \u00a0And while States should continue pushing for reginal de-escalation, she said they should not lose sight of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. \u00a0\u201cOne year of war is a year too many \u2014 we cannot afford to delay peace any longer,\u201d urged Malta\u2019s representative.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the representative of China, observing that \u201cso-called diplomatic efforts\u201d have been going in circles for the past five months, recalled that the United States advanced a ceasefire initiative in May that it claimed Israel had already accepted.\u00a0 Nevertheless, he stated:\u00a0 \u201cWe certainly cannot lose faith in genuine diplomacy.\u201d \u00a0Mozambique\u2019s representative, concurring, also called on States to intensify diplomatic efforts and bring all parties to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should move forward in our reflection on what needs to change in order for the peoples of this region to live in peace and security for a change,\u201d said Slovenia\u2019s representative, similarly urging a return to the path of diplomacy. \u00a0France\u2019s representative, on that, called on those present to immediately \u201cwork towards the creation of a Palestinian State\u201d.<\/p>\n
This position was expressed by many Council Members, including the representatives of Sierra Leone, Ecuador and the Republic of Korea, who highlighted the key role of the two-State solution in attaining durable peace in the Middle East.\u00a0 \u201cIf there are parties who believe that the two-State solution is not a viable path, they will have to answer as to what is a better alternative,\u201d observed the delegate of the Republic of Korea, adding: \u00a0\u201cGaza is not a chess board, nor are the civilians remaining there chess pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou keep repeating yourselves, and one country is not listening to you,\u201d the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine pointed out, adding:\u00a0\u201cYou don\u2019t have teeth, you are not using the tools available to you in order to make them listen to you.\u201d \u00a0Stating that Israel\u2019s unprecedented attacks against the UN, its Secretary-General and UNRWA must be understood in the context of its desire to seize control of Gaza and force it into submission, he observed:\u00a0\u201cIf your aim is to make Gaza unliveable, then you must attack the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting that the same failure to stop Israeli atrocities in Palestine is being repeated in Lebanon, he asked:\u00a0 \u201cDid you grow accustomed to our death?\u201d \u00a0A firefighter does not negotiate with an arsonist; he prevents him from spreading the fire \u2014 a fire \u201cnow threatening to engulf our entire region\u201d, he said. \u00a0\u201cThe outrage your countries display, the solidarity they demonstrate every single day in the streets, need to turn into an unstoppable wave to put out the fire,\u201d he said; otherwise, \u201ceverything else we are trying to do and say in this Chamber will be meaningless\u201d.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s representative, for his part, stated:\u00a0\u201cIf any Council members want the discussion to be productive, every conversation should centre around a simple truth \u2013 the future of Gaza must be a future without Hamas.\u201d \u00a0Hamas has exploited the suffering of Palestinians, he said, \u201cusing the misery in Gaza as a propaganda tool while they line their pockets and boost their arsenals\u201d. \u00a0Stressing that his country imposes no restrictions on humanitarian aid, he said that 82\u00a0per\u00a0cent of all requests for humanitarian coordination have been approved and implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are willing and able to work on the ground,\u201d he emphasized, urging those present to then \u201ccompare our efforts to the failures of UNRWA\u201d, which has allowed Hamas to infiltrate its ranks to the point where the Agency \u201cis simply beyond repair\u201d. \u00a0He also insisted that \u201cwhile Israel fights to protect and uplift civilians, UNRWA leaves them and allows them to suffer\u201d. \u00a0However, \u201cthe real evils\u00a0\u2014 Hamas, Hizbullah and their puppet-masters in Tehran \u2014 continue to sow terror and death\u201d. \u00a0He called on the Council to address \u201cthe deeper disease that has plagued the region for too long\u201d.<\/p>\n
Taking the floor a second time as the meeting drew to a close, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine said:\u00a0 \u201cI am not asking [the Israeli Government] to condemn the killing of Palestinian civilians. \u00a0I am telling your Government to stop killing them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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