UN Security Council Addresses Israel-Palestine Crisis | United Nations (24 Oct 2023)

During the 9451st session of the UN Security Council, a review of the Middle East situation, with a particular focus on the Palestinian issue, is on the agenda.

During the 9451st session of the UN Security Council, a review of the Middle East situation, with a particular focus on the Palestinian issue, is on the agenda.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, warned the Security Council today that “the situation in the Middle East is growing more dire by the hour” and “the war in Gaza is raging and risks spiraling throughout the region.”

Addressing the Council in New York, the UN chief added that “divisions are splintering societies” and “tensions threaten to boil over.”

Guterres said, “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets. All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions.”

The Secretary-General continued, “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

“I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear: No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law,” added Guterres.

“Thankfully,” the UN chief noted, “some humanitarian relief is finally getting into Gaza.”

He noted, though, that it is “a drop of aid in an ocean of need” and informed that the UN fuel supplies in Gaza will run out “in a matter of days”, which “would be another disaster.”

Guterres added, “To ease epic suffering, make the delivery of aid easier and safer, and facilitate the release of hostages, I reiterate my appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”

For the Secretary-General, “even in this moment of grave and immediate danger, we cannot lose sight of the only realistic foundation for a true peace and stability: a two-State solution.”

Guterres concluded, “Polarization and dehumanization are being fueled by a tsunami of disinformation. We must stand up to the forces of antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry and all forms of hate.”

Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, also addressed the Council, saying, that the risk of a significant further deterioration of the situation in the occupied West Bank or spillover of the conflict in the region “remains significant.”

Wennesland said, “It is critical, that we, as a united international community, employ all our collective efforts to end the bloodletting and prevent any further expansion of hostilities – including in the region. The stakes are astronomically high and I appeal for all relevant actors to act responsibly. Any miscalculation could have immeasurable consequences.”

The Special Coordinator also said, “The unresolved conflict and continued occupation shape the reality of every Israeli and every Palestinian. For 15 years, the population has been living under militant rule and a strict closure regime, as the Palestinian divide hardened. For a generation, hope has been lost and despair has prevailed for those who see prospects for a more peaceful future pulling still further away. Only a political solution will move us forward.”

The Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, said, “The agreement on the resumption of aid deliveries through the Rafah crossing and the release of a small number of hostages over the past few days shows that through diplomacy and negotiation, humanity can prevail and we can find humanitarian solutions, even in the depths of conflict.”

Hastings noted, “If we are to prevent any further descent into this humanitarian catastrophe, dialogue must continue – to ensure essential supplies can get into Gaza at the scale needed, to spare civilians and the infrastructure they depend on, to release hostages, and to avoid any further escalation and spillover. The world is looking to the Member States around this Council to play its part in leading the way.”

Addressing the Council, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Observer State of Palestine, Riyad Al-Maliki, said, “We are here today to stop the killing, stop the massacres being committed against the Palestinian people. The ongoing massacres - being deliberately and systematically and savagely – perpetrated by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian civilian population under its illegal occupation must be stopped.”

According to the Minister, “the Security Council has a duty to stop them” and “the international community is obliged under international law to stop them.”

“It is our collective human duty to stop them. Now. Continued failure at this Council is inexcusable,” added Al-Maliki.