Request for the resumption of the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly – Letter from Egypt and Mauritania

December 10, 2023

Letter dated 8 December 2023 from the Permanent Representatives of Egypt and Mauritania to the United Nations addressed to the President of the General Assembly

The Arab Republic of Egypt and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, in our respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and Chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Group at the United Nations in New York, and pursuant to the decisions made by the extraordinary Islamic-Arab Summit, convened on 11 November 2023 in Riyadh, and with reference to the letter dated 6 December 2023 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council invoking Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations, make the present request for the resumption of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly following the veto cast on 8 December 2023 by a permanent member of the Security Council on a draft resolution concerning the grave situation of the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip and demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

In the absence of a ceasefire and in light of the ongoing grave breaches of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, and violations of the relevant United Nations resolutions, including resolution ES-10/21, the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the Gaza Strip, has continued to dramatically deteriorate. As Israel, the occupying Power, persists in its military aggression and siege against the Palestinian civilian population, killing and wounding thousands more Palestinian children, women and men, causing more wanton destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, forcibly displacing more than 1.9 million people, undermining the access and ability of humanitarian agencies, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), to deliver on their mandates, and impeding desperately-needed humanitarian assistance, it is endangering more civilian lives, risking further deterioration of this already-catastrophic situation, and threatening regional and international peace and security, making it urgent that the General Assembly convene to address this crisis, in accordance with resolution 377 (V) of 1950, entitled “Uniting for peace”, as rapidly as possible.

(Signed) Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud
Chair of the Arab Group
Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United Nations

(Signed) Sidi Mohamed Laghdaf
Chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Group
Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to the United Nations