In Emergency Security Council Session, UN Warns Israel’s Gaza City Takeover Could Trigger ‘Another Horrific Chapter’ in Conflict

10 August 2025

9975th Meeting (AM)

‘This Is Liberation’ from Terror Regime, Says Israel’s Delegate, Denying Intention to Permanently Occupy Gaza

Israel’s latest decision to take over Gaza City risks “igniting another horrific chapter” in the conflict, a senior United Nations official said during an emergency Security Council session today, as delegates warned that this escalation will uproot a million people and exacerbate an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for “defeating Hamas” includes the disarmament of Hamas, the release of all hostages; the Gaza Strip’s demilitarization; Israeli security control over the Strip; and the establishment of an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. The Israel Defense Forces will also prepare to take control of Gaza City, while providing humanitarian assistance outside combat zones.

“This is yet another dangerous escalation of the conflict,” he warned, adding that Israel foresees the displacement of all civilians from Gaza City by 7 October 2025, affecting some 800,000 people, many of them previously displaced. Reports indicate that the Israel Defense Forces would then surround the city for three months. This would then reportedly be followed by an additional two months to seize control of central Gaza’s camps and clear the entire area of Palestinian armed groups.

“If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction — compounding the unbearable suffering of the population,” he said. Last night, thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv and cities across Israel to call for a ceasefire and a hostage release deal.

Emphasizing that the only way to stop the immense human suffering in Gaza is through a full, immediate and permanent ceasefire, he urged the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as rapid, safe, unimpeded and large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave. There will be no sustainable solution without an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation and the achievement of a viable two-State solution, he stressed, stating: “Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a Palestinian State.”

“The suffering endured by Palestinians and Israelis over the past 22 months has been nothing short of soul-searing,” said Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of the Coordination Division, Head and Representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva. He called Israel’s decision to expand military operations in Gaza a “grave escalation in a conflict that has already inflicted unimaginable suffering”. More than 61,000 people have been killed, including over 18,000 children, and 151,000 have been injured, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, while 50 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza — “with those still alive held in unthinkably inhumane and appalling conditions”.

“We have frankly run out of words to describe” humanitarian conditions, which “are beyond horrific”, he stated, stressing: “This is no longer a looming hunger crisis — this is starvation pure and simple.”

However, the UN has “the plan and systems in place to respond”, he stated, while it is equally critical that humanitarian partners on the ground are allowed to deliver life-saving services.

Condemnation of Israel’s Plan to Expand Military Operation:

In the ensuing discussion, many speakers condemned Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City and urged that country to reverse its decision. “Gaza is facing hell,” said Algeria’s delegate, denouncing Israel’s decision to displace the entire population of Gaza City and Northern Gaza, and impose full military control over the Strip. “After twenty-two months of forced displacement, starvation and ethnic cleansing, such an operation would not merely ruin Gaza, it would annihilate what remains of it,” he stated. Israel’s objective is clear: “To push an entire people outside their homeland.”

The expansion of Israel’s military operation is “not a path to resolution but a path to more bloodshed,” concurred the United Kingdom’s delegate. The Russian Federation’s delegate condemned Israel’s intentions to seize Gaza as “dangerous steps which undermine the already fragile prospects for the peaceful settlement of the Middle East conflict”.

Urging Israel to retract the plan, the speaker for the Republic of Korea said that its primary target, Gaza City, is one of the few remaining areas where a large civilian population has sought tenuous refuge, and a renewed full-scale operation against it will inevitably cause another round of forced displacement and killings.

Also urging Israel to reverse its decision, Denmark’s delegate said that the entire Strip faces famine-like conditions. Deploring the killing of starving civilians trying to get food, she stressed that “the alarming frequency and scale of these incidents are simply unacceptable” and called for transparent investigations into these incidents.

Citing the “unbearable” images of children dying of hunger or civilians targeted while searching for food, France’s delegate urged Israel to allow the UN and all humanitarian actors to operate freely and safely.

Opposing any attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinian population, Greece’s delegate reiterated that any potential annexation of Gaza or any other part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory would contravene international law.

“What will happen to those surviving Palestinians once Israel launches its takeover?” asked Slovenia’s delegate. The 1 million people living in Gaza City will be displaced once more, chased from corner to corner, to tiny camps, or even beyond. “All civilians in Gaza — Israelis and Palestinians — are hostages,” he stressed, adding that the responsibility to protect them against the upcoming military onslaught “weighs heavy on our shoulders”.

“Would any Member State of this Council allow its citizens to be subject to this type of inhumane treatment by any actor, including a fellow member State of the United Nations,” asked Guyana’s delegate, condemning the latest instalment in Israel’s contemptible actions against the Palestinian people. “When appeals to morality, humanity and legality fail,” the Council must delve into its toolbox to save lives, she stressed, reiterating her country’s preparedness to act with fellow Council members to take the relevant decisions.

Calls for Deployment of International Protection Force:

“Once again, we meet here in this Council as Gaza bleeds,” said Pakistan’s delegate, adding that Israel’s plan aims to erase Palestinian presence and extinguish prospects for peace. “Let us be clear: it is the culmination of a campaign of ethnic cleansing”, he stressed. Those shielding Israel from accountability are complicit and must share responsibility. Further, the Council must be ready to impose a cost on Israel — including the deployment of an international protection force to save the besieged population.

As scenes of genocide are repeated “without any action being taken”, Kuwait’s delegate, speaking for the Gulf Cooperation Council, called for urgent and binding measures to be taken under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter “to stop this brutal aggression”.

Calling for a break with “warlike logic”, the representative of Panama, Council President for August, spoke in his national capacity to affirm that the Gazans “do not need more fire”, they need water, medicines, food and protection.

An immediate ceasefire and the return of hostages are also “the very wishes of the Israeli people and the families of the hostages”, observed China’s representative.

“Against the Israeli army stand unarmed civilians,” said Senegal’s delegate, underlining the need to oppose Israel’s destructive force with a credible and unwavering force of law. He added: “Humanity is watching us, and history will judge us.”

The representative of Sierra Leone underscored that genuine normalization, endorsed in the Arab Peace Initiative, offers Israel the prospect of lasting peace, security and regional acceptance — but only if it is accompanied by an end to occupation and the realization of Palestinian statehood.

In the same vein, Iraq’s delegate, speaking for the Arab Group, called for the rights of the Palestinian people to be restored — including the right to self-determination, the right to return and compensation for Palestinian refugees.

Somalia’s representative affirmed that Israel’s announcement of its intention to impose military control over the entire Gaza Strip “is not an abstraction [but] a chilling blueprint for the next chapter of devastation”. “True security cannot be built on top of the ruins of justice,” he asserted. Urging for a permanent ceasefire, he called the moment “a test for all of humanity”, as silence “is not neutrality. For all the victims, it is a verdict”.

Palestine, Israel Clash over Form of Future Gaza Administration:

The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine stated that the plan adopted by the recent International High-Level Conference on Palestine foresees the Palestinian Authority resuming its sole governmental and security duties in the Gaza Strip with regional and international support and Hamas handing over its weapons. If Israel’s concern was the end of Hamas rule, it would have rallied behind this plan, he stressed. Israel’s goal is the destruction of the Palestinian people through forced transfer and massacres to facilitate its annexation of their land. Addressing the international community, he said: “Your actions today will determine the fate […] of our region for generations to come.”

However, the United States’ delegate called for placing responsibility where it lies — with Hamas — which has consistently rejected ceasefire proposals, and “we know this because we are in the room,” she stated. Israel has the right to decide what is necessary for its security, she affirmed, while accusations of genocide are politically motivated and categorically false, part of a cynical propaganda campaign.

For his part, Israel’s delegate said that one of the five clear principles that the Israeli security cabinet adopted for concluding the war is the establishment of a non-Israeli, peaceful civil administration governed neither by Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. His country’s defence forces are preparing to take control of Gaza City. “This is not conquest,” he stressed, as Israel has no plans to permanently occupy Gaza. “This is liberation” from a terror regime. The Council had urgently convened to “chastise the one democracy in the Middle East” — while its urgency should be directed towards dismantling Hamas, freeing the hostages and ensuring that such atrocities never happen again, he asserted.