{"id":224414,"date":"2019-11-15T16:50:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T21:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=224414"},"modified":"2019-11-18T15:41:30","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T20:41:30","slug":"daily-press-briefing-rocket-attack-kills-8-family-members-in-gaza-excerpts","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/daily-press-briefing-rocket-attack-kills-8-family-members-in-gaza-excerpts\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Press Briefing \u2013 Attack Kills 8 Family Members in Gaza \u2013 (Excerpts)"},"content":{"rendered":"

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,<\/strong><\/p>\n

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANT\u00d3NIO GUTERRES<\/strong><\/p>\n

FRIDAY, 15\u00a0NOVEMBER\u00a02019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Gaza<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, responded to an attack in Gaza today, claimed by Israel, which reportedly killed eight family members, saying that there is no justification to attacking civilians in Gaza or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

He said his heartfelt condolences go to the Al-Sawarkeh family, and he wishes a speedy recovery to the injured.\u00a0 He calls on Israel to move swiftly with its investigation.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

**Questions and Answers<\/u><\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 I have a few questions.\u00a0 I hope you will bear with me.\u00a0 First about the family of Al\u2011Sawarkeh \u2014 a family of eight have been obliterated by six missiles, hit by Israel, including five children, two women and the father.\u00a0 No statement came out, except I know Mladenov expressed sadness and, quote, for Israel to investigate.\u00a0 But there is no condemnation.\u00a0 This is a crime.\u00a0 Is it a crime of the crime against, you know, a war crime or a crime against humanity?<\/p>\n

Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 We are opposed to all killings of civilians.\u00a0 In this case, in the case of the Al\u2011Sawarkeh family, it’s clearly a tragedy.\u00a0 The Secretary\u2011General expresses his heartfelt condolence to the Al\u2011Sawarkeh family and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured; and he calls on Israel to move swiftly with the investigation.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 But where is the word condemnation?\u00a0 I’m looking for a word condemnation.\u00a0 A family of eight had been killed while they were sleeping.\u00a0 Israel admitted; Israel admitted it was a mistake.\u00a0 Why there is no statement to condemn this crime?<\/p>\n

Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 We have consistently condemned all attacks on civilians that lead to their deaths.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Again, this is not a satisfactory answer, because this is a crime against humanity.\u00a0 It’s a war crime, a family who are sleeping, Israel admitted that, and there is no statement to condemn?<\/p>\n

Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, first of all, it’s a little odd to me that first you say it’s not satisfactory if we don’t condemn it; then I say from this podium that we do condemn all the attacks on civilians and then you say it’s still not satisfactory.\u00a0 I actually just was doing what you said I wasn’t doing.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 But the statement, I’m sorry, I don’t want to argue, I’m looking for a statement regarding this family using the word \u201ccondemn\u201d, that is not there, that is what I’m saying.\u00a0 Now, I go to another issue.\u00a0 I mean, the foreign minister of Palestine, Palestinian foreign minister, issued a statement criticizing Mladenov for his biased statement, claiming that this wave of escalation, almost putting the blame on the victim.\u00a0 It started when Israel attacked and killed a Jihad leader.\u00a0 It’s not the Palestinian who started it.\u00a0 But, however, his statement almost put the blame squarely on the Palestinians, and the foreign minister issued that statement.\u00a0 Did you read the statement of the foreign minister?<\/p>\n

Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I don’t share that particular interpretation.\u00a0 Our objective, the objective of the Secretary\u2011General, of the United Nations, and of Nickolay Mladenov, is to make sure that calm can be restored in and around Gaza.\u00a0 Now, it’s up to those concerned parties to live up to the responsibilities of sustaining the agreement.\u00a0 The Secretary\u2011General urges all to refrain from any act that could lead to further escalation.\u00a0 He supports all efforts that contribute to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of relevant UN resolutions and international law.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 On 6\u00a0November, Mr. Mladenov met with the family of Hadar Goldin.\u00a0 His remains are held captive in Gaza, and he called for their release on a humanitarian basis and he said no one should live with such pain.\u00a0 I agree with him totally.\u00a0 Nobody should be kept captive.\u00a0 But does he know that there are 32\u00a0captive Palestinians held by Israel?\u00a0 Did he take initiatives to visit one of the families of those who have\u2026 their children are held by Israelis?<\/p>\n

Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 He has made clear his sympathies for all people who have suffered, whether Palestinian or Israeli, by the fighting.\u00a0 And you can just look to what he said today about the Al\u2011Sawarkeh family.\u00a0 And, again, his thoughts go to all of the families of the victims and he cares about all of their needs.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 But when he visits one side and not the other, he shows sympathy with one family and take picture with them, but he doesn’t visit any of the other side, is that\u2026 do you call that objectivity?\u00a0 Do you agree that this is, could be interpreted as a biased position of the Special Coordinator of the peace process in the Middle East?<\/p>\n

Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 On different occasions, Mr. Mladenov and his office have reached out to families who have been bereaved on either side and his\u2026 and their sympathies are with both.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ, DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANT\u00d3NIO GUTERRES FRIDAY, 15\u00a0NOVEMBER\u00a02019 \/… Gaza Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, responded to an attack in Gaza today, claimed by Israel, which reportedly killed eight family members, saying that there is no justification to attacking civilians […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2573],"document-source":[5352,1877],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,1829,2005,1857],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-224414","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-highlights-of-the-noon-briefing","document-source-secretary-general","document-source-united-nations-special-coordinator-for-the-middle-east-peace-process-unsco","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-incidents","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/224414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/224414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=224414"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=224414"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=224414"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=224414"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=224414"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=224414"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=224414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}