“This is not just about Gaza — it is about the future of international law.” Statement by the UN Palestinian Rights Committee at Security Council Open Debate

STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. JAIME HERMIDA CASTILO 

  VICE-CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE EXERCISE OF  THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE  

SECURITY COUNCIL OPEN DEBATE  

ON THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, INCLUDING THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION  

New York, 23 July 2025  

Mr. President, 

Distinguished Members of the Security Council, 

Excellencies,  

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

We commend Pakistan for its leadership of the Council and His Excellency Mr. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs for convening this meeting. We appreciate the briefing by Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari. 

As of today, 655 days of relentless carnage have ravaged the Gaza Strip. Since Israel broke the ceasefire on 18 March 2025, Gaza has plunged further into catastrophe at an unimaginable scale. The renewed military assault, alongside a re-imposed blockade now past its 100th day, has devastated already fragile humanitarian conditions, now deteriorating faster than at any point in the past 20 months. The suffering unfolding before our eyes is more than just a humanitarian emergency. It has become our moral litmus test, and we are failing. 

The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, introduced on 27 May, replaced 400 UN-operated aid points with only four militarized sites. These have become killing zones. Almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, and at least 5,000 injured while attempting to access food and relief. Starving people are being shot in overcrowded areas where there is no safety, no shelter, and nothing left of human dignity.  

This is not humanitarian assistance but a deliberate and calculated infliction of suffering, in violation of international law and UN resolution 2735. Israel’s continued, relentless and disproportionate military operation on Gaza has killed over 58,000 Palestinians and wounded 140,000, the majority of whom are children, women and other vulnerable civilians, a staggering toll that reflects not statistics, but lives, entire families, and futures erased. 

We urge, once more, the Security Council to hear the cries of a defenceless people and act on the international community’s deep concern. It must condemn Israel’s strikes on displaced civilians and those searching for food, and demand full, safe, and sustained aid access for people long denied the basics of life. With growing alarm, many Member States and Humanitarian Organizations now reject the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as dangerous and ineffective, calling instead for a return to the trusted UN-led system.  

Israel’s military strike on 9 July on six Palestinian children fetching water in Nuseirat came mere days after the country’s formal listing in the Secretary-General’s CAAC report of June 2025 for grave violations against children.  The Palestinian people continue to be systematically targeted with no accountability, no protection, and no international action. This is not an accident. It is impunity, unmasked, and must be stopped. 

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli military raids, settler violence, and systematic demolitions have displaced entire communities, especially in refugee camps and in the Jordan Valley. As of 9 July, 958 Palestinians have been killed. These are not isolated incidents but a systematic campaign to force Palestinians off their land and entrench this illegal occupation and its annexation schemes. 

We also condemn Israel’s plan to forcibly transfer hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza into so-called “humanitarian cities” under its control, de facto mass “concentration camps,” as warned by the UNRWA Commissioner-General and others, including a former Israeli leader. This latest forced displacement toward Rafah denies Palestinians their rights, dignity, and any future in their homeland. These are not security measures, but a demographic engineering strategy that we categorically condemn. The Security Council cannot continue to be silent and complicit in such large-scale forced displacement. Israeli actions must be stopped and reversed immediately.  

The Committee welcomes the June 2025 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory, which documents corporate and institutional complicity in sustaining the occupation. However, one year after the July 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion ruling deeming Israel’s occupation unlawful, the Security Council’s inaction remains a grave moral failure, enabling Israel’s impunity as deaths soar, the humanitarian crisis worsens, and Gaza nears total ruin. 

Furthermore, the Committee expresses its deep concern regarding the recent decision by the Government of the United States of America to impose punitive measures against the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied since 1967, Ms. Francesca Albanese. We underscore the necessity of Ms. Albanese to operate freely, independently, and without fear of retaliation, in the pursuit of her critical mandate. 

Distinguished delegates,   

The time to act is now. We call upon the Council to do what the international community demands: a permanent, internationally supervised ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Gaza; Israel must lift the Gaza blockade and restore full, safe humanitarian operations to the United Nations, including UNRWA, which maintains the largest capacity of all UN agencies on the ground and remains indispensable for the welfare of the Palestine refugee community and as a stabilizing presence in the region. The militarized aid system in Gaza must be dismantled. Israel must end all forms of forced displacements and guarantee the right of return for those uprooted from their homelands.  

The General Assembly, through Resolution ES-10/24, has made its stance clear. Israel’s illegal occupation must end. With less than three months to act on the resolution, we urge Israel to immediately halt all unlawful measures that entrench control and risk permanent annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, including a complete halt to all settlement activities and settler terror and encroachment on Palestinian communities. Today’s Security Council debate presents a critical opportunity to reaffirm the global commitment to ending the occupation and ensuring accountability.  

We commend the co-chairs, Saudi Arabia and France, for their swift and thoughtful leadership in rescheduling the resumption of the High-Level Conference on the Implementation of the Two-State Solution to 28 – 30 July 2025. As violations against Palestinians persist, the Security Council must seize this momentum to deliver coordinated, urgent, unified, and concrete immediate action to end Israel’s military onslaught and occupation, and to secure a just peace that ensures the rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination, and the independence of the State of Palestine. We also urge the Security Council to align itself with the broad consensus expressed by the General Assembly and recommend the admission of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations.  

The systematic decimation of the Palestinian people, the annexation of their land, and the erasure of their future are accelerating. The international community must act decisively and without delay. We e must respond with meaningful, coordinated actions. 

The Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the independence of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, must be realized in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions without further delay. 

Thank you.