Letter from the State of Palestine on the escalating genocide in Gaza (A/ES-10/1032-S/2025/285)

05 May 2025

Identical letters dated 5 May 2025 from the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council

For nearly 19 months, we have sounded the alarm about the brutality, cruelty and depravity of Israel’s onslaught against Gaza, and appealed to the international community to protect the Palestinian people and to act – as demanded by international law and by our common humanity – to stop this genocide. All to no avail.

It has now been over two months since Israel’s decision to completely seal Gaza off from the world and prevent the entry of any humanitarian supplies from reaching the civilian population at the same time that it continues its assaults, killing, injuring and maiming Palestinian children, women and men every single day.

Not a morsel of food or any other humanitarian or commercial goods have entered Gaza since 2 March 2025. Bakeries and charity kitchens are closing their doors; United Nations operations are being forced to shut down or being completely forced out of Gaza; hospitals are struggling to care for the sick, the malnourished and the thousands of wounded; and desperation is on the rise.

The devastating impact on the two million people remaining in Gaza defies apt description. A fatigued, depleted and deeply traumatized population, nearly all forcibly displaced and left homeless amidst constant Israeli military attack, is being further ravaged by starvation, dehydration, illness and disease with no end in sight to their suffering. Deeming humanitarian conditions in Gaza as catastrophic no longer even suffices.

And, still, there is no international action – no humanitarian corridor, no lifting or breaking of the siege, no protection force for civilians, no accountability for the perpetrators, and no attempt to stop this genocide. Instead, Israel, the occupying Power, is seemingly being given carte blanche to massacre and destroy. The complicity of many in this onslaught is shocking and appalling.

It is incomprehensible how the Security Council can remain silent in the face of such atrocities. Its mandate under the Charter of the United Nations makes clear its duty to act. The threats to international peace and security, and to the international legal order itself, are beyond question.

That Israel’s political and military commanders have intentionally decided to weaponize starvation is exposed by their chilling vows, ominous declarations and criminal actions. They have been manifestly clear about their aims to harm and coerce the extremely vulnerable civilian population under Israel’s occupation into submission or, preferably, demise or departure from their homeland.

Such blatant war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide should have long ago warranted action by the international community. Two million human lives are at risk, one million of them children.

As warned by Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Catherine Russell,

For two months, children in the Gaza Strip have faced relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care. With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this.

Families are struggling to survive. They are trapped, unable to flee in search of safety. The land they used to farm has been destroyed. The sea they used for fishing has been restricted. Bakeries are closing, water production is declining, and market shelves are almost bare. Humanitarian aid has provided the only lifeline for children, and now it is close to running out.[1]

The world cannot stand by and watch helplessly as Israeli officials, such as “National Security Minister” Itamar Ben-Gvir shamelessly calls for bombing food and aid depots in Gaza in order to deny civilians access to even the paltry food supplies that remain, revealing the wanton intent to starve and deprive the Palestinian population to death. Nor can the world ever accept Israel’s schemes to militarize humanitarian aid.

In this regard, we echo the recent statements by the Secretary-General, António Guterres, before the Security Council (see S/PV.9907), as well as by the humanitarian country team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory[2] rejecting the weaponization of aid, insisting on respect for the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality, and warning, inter alia, as follows:

Israeli officials have sought to shut down the existing aid distribution system run by the United Nations and its humanitarian partners and have us agree to deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to re-open crossings ….

[Their plan] contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy. It is dangerous, driving civilians into militarized zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement …. [W]e will not participate in any scheme that does not adhere to the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.

The world cannot stand by and watch as humanitarians trying to save lives are targeted by Israeli occupying forces (IOF) and prevented from carrying out their duties, and as the United Nations and other international organizations, as well as Palestinian and Israeli humanitarian organizations, are all under increasing Israeli repression. This includes ongoing attacks on the staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as well as the recent bombing of a ship from the “Freedom Flotilla Coalition” in the waters of Malta on 2 May 2025 as it carried food and other lifesaving aid aimed at breaking the siege on Gaza, endangering the lives of the 16 humanitarians and human rights activists who were on board and were trying to uphold their legal, humanitarian and moral obligations in the face of international paralysis.

The world cannot stand by and watch passively, or worse with indifference, as extremist Israeli officials, such as Minister Bezalel Smotrich, declare that “the time has come to pounce on Gaza, to occupy it… to establish a military government, to take territory from them…to remove 1.5 to 2 million Gazans from Gaza…”, and as the Israeli government endorses such criminal plans for the ethnic cleansing of our people and annexation of our territory, with IOF announcing preparations to launch a “wide-scale attack” on Gaza and further mass displacement of the entire population.

The world cannot continue treat such Israeli officials or their war criminal Prime Minister with deference. They must be held accountable and their maniacal onslaught on the Palestinian people must be stopped in Gaza and the rest of Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem, where civilian casualties, destruction and forced displacement also continue to mount daily at the hands of IOF and terrorist settlers.

All such criminal Israeli schemes and actions against the Palestinian people must be roundly condemned. And it is time to use all legitimate diplomatic, political, legal, economic tools at the international community’s disposal, including an immediate arms embargo, to bring pressure to bear on Israel, the occupying Power, to cease its depravity and to respect international law, including humanitarian and human rights law.

All efforts must be made to protect the Palestinian civilian population under this illegal occupation and to ensure for them the humanitarian supplies and aid that will ensure their survival – as individuals and as a group – which is under direct and imminent threat by Israel. This is a matter of the utmost urgency, a collective responsibility and legal, humanitarian and moral obligation that can no longer be delayed.

We thus call on the Security Council once again, and likewise again on all States that remain committed to the rule of law and human rights and seek peace, to act now to halt this insanity and rescue the Palestinian people from the death sentence being imposed on them by this criminal, colonial occupation.

The Security Council must act now to implement its resolutions, including resolution 2735 (2024), in order to impose an immediate, permanent ceasefire and secure the immediate and unfettered delivery of humanitarian assistance and basic services for the Palestinian civilian population, including by United Nations agencies, including UNRWA. Alongside the Security Council, all with influence must act at this critical, dangerous moment. As appealed by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Coordinator, Thomas Fletcher, “To the Israeli authorities, and those who can still reason with them, we say again: lift this brutal blockade. Let humanitarians save lives.”[3]

If faced with continued Israeli contempt for its authority and non-compliance with its decisions, the Council must immediately consider and use all tools bestowed by the Charter and international law to stop these atrocities, protect the Palestinian people and halt this endless cycle of violence, destruction and suffering, for our civilians, for the hostages and for the entire region. Millions of human lives are at stake, as is the international legal order, which has been so severely damaged by this unchecked impunity, inhumanity and historic injustice.

This letter is in follow-up to our 865 letters on the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 23 April 2025 (A/ES-10/1031-S/2025/249) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations against our people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. This illegal colonial occupation and apartheid regime must end now.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the present letter distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Riyad Mansour

Minister

Permanent Observer

           [1] Full statement available at: www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-situation-children-gaza-strip.

           [2] Available at: www.ochaopt.org/content/statement-humanitarian-country-team-occupied-palestinian-territory-principled-aid-delivery-gaza.

           [3] Statement available at: www.ochaopt.org/content/statement-gaza-tom-fletcher-under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-0.