We do have a choice: Creating tipping points for climate progress – or careening to tipping points for climate disaster. This is an all-in moment. The United Nations is all-in – working to build trust, find solutions, and inspire the cooperation our world so desperately needs. It’s We the Peoples versus the polluters and the profiteers. Together, we can win. But it’s time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on. Tomorrow is too late. Now is the time to mobilise, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver.
Day in and day out, at great personal risk, these women and men bravely work in some of the most dangerous and unstable places on earth to protect civilians, uphold human rights, support elections and strengthen institutions. They are part of a long tradition. For over 75 years, United Nations peacekeepers have supported communities rocked by conflict and upheaval across 71 missions.
It would be tragic if weeks of intense diplomatic activity for peace in Gaza, yield no ceasefire. No release of hostages. And a devastating offensive in Rafah. I reiterate my appeal for both parties to show the political courage and spare no effort to secure an agreement now. To stop the bloodshed. To free the hostages. And to help stabilize a region which is still at risk of explosion. This is a crucial opportunity that the region – and indeed the world – cannot afford to miss.
This is the moment to reaffirm our hope for, and contributions to, a two-state solution – the only sustainable path to peace and security for Israelis, Palestinians, and the wider region. The United Nations is totally committed to supporting a pathway to peace, based on an end to the occupation and the establishment of a fully independent, democratic, viable, contiguous, and sovereign Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.
The Middle East is on a knife-edge. Recent escalations make it even more important to support good-faith efforts to find lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state...I urge every Government involved to use its influence and leverage to promote trust-building, mutual security, and regional peace.