<\/p>\n
22 August 2024<\/p>\n
With polio beginning to spread through the Gaza Strip, and humanitarian and health agencies overextended, an immediate humanitarian pause and a long-term peace deal are imperative, the Security Council heard today during an open briefing on the Palestinian question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a ceasefire now,\u201d Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process<\/strong>, said, as he stressed that individual and collective capacities to manage the current crises in the Middle East \u201care stretched beyond their limits\u201d. \u00a0Detailing the \u201cstaggering toll on human life\u201d that the war in Gaza continues to levy, reverberating violence throughout the region and the over 200,000\u00a0Palestinians affected by evacuation orders over the past month, he reported that UN agencies and humanitarian organizations continue to deliver life-saving assistance \u201cwith remarkable courage\u201d through all available crossing points.<\/p>\n However, he cautioned, their efforts are jeopardized by unsafe conditions on the ground that, if allowed to prevail, will render humanitarian operations in Gaza continuously unable to meet the massive needs of the population. \u00a0\u201cThe scale of destruction is immense, and will take years \u2014 if not decades \u2014 to recover,\u201d he said. \u00a0While the UN works to repair almost-entirely defunct water, sanitation and hygiene systems in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health just confirmed the first case of polio in 25\u00a0years. \u00a0In response, 1.6\u00a0million doses of vaccine for the disease have been released for a campaign scheduled to begin on 31\u00a0August.<\/p>\n And while the eyes of the international community focus on Gaza, he pointed out that the occupied West Bank is \u201ca tinderbox of violence and tension\u201d. \u00a0Detailing the situation there, he underscored: \u201cIf we are to prevent yet another spiralling escalation, the violence must end \u2014 there are no justifications for acts of terror, civilians must be protected and the incitement must stop.\u201d\u00a0 Also spotlighting wider regional tensions and violence along the Blue Line and in the Israeli-occupied Golan, Beirut, Tel Aviv, Hudaydah and Tehran, he said that the Middle East is at an \u201cinflection point\u201d.<\/p>\n Stressing that a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza is imperative \u2014 \u201cnow\u201d \u2014 for regional peace and security, he urged the parties to reach such an agreement in the coming days. \u00a0Meanwhile, the profound social, economic and political fallout from this devastation is yet to be seen or comprehended, and he underscored that \u201csecurity and governance are intrinsically linked and must be addressed in tandem to achieve lasting peace in Gaza and address the West Bank situation\u201d. \u00a0Adding that the Palestinian Authority must be at the centre of governance in the Occupied Palestinian Territory \u2014 \u201cthere is simply no credible alternative\u201d \u2014 he urged: \u00a0\u201cSecurity fixes alone will not lead to a more stable future for anyone in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n Also briefing the Council today was\u00a0Louisa Baxter, Operations Lead at Save the Children\u2019s Emergency Health Unit, Gaza,<\/strong> who spoke via video link from Deir al Balah, where Israel has issued an evacuation order. \u00a0\u201cOutside this room, I am surrounded by overwhelming destruction \u2014 more than 1.9\u00a0million people have been displaced and are moving through streets filled with rubble, rubbish and wastewater,\u201d she reported.\u00a0 Further, she said: \u00a0\u201cAs we speak, polio is spreading in Gaza and it will not wait at the inspection gate at Kerem Shalom or the customs desk at Ben Gurion airport.\u201d \u00a0Polio anywhere is a threat to children everywhere, she stressed, adding that without immediate preventative action, the outbreak will substantially set back global eradication efforts.<\/p>\n The first confirmed case \u2014 a 10-month-old baby in Deir al Balah \u2014 is an individual tragedy, as well as a sign of a larger looming catastrophe, she said.\u00a0 For every 200\u00a0children who become infected, one will suffer irreversible paralysis.\u00a0 Noting that polio is highly infectious and spreads via wastewater \u201cwhich is now everywhere in Gaza\u201d, she said \u201cIsrael has destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure, while effectively shutting off clean water from entering the Strip\u201d. \u00a0And while polio is easily prevented by a vaccine, vaccination services have also broken down over the last 10\u00a0months and 750\u00a0health staff have been killed since October\u00a02023 while less than a quarter of hospitals remain functional. \u00a0\u201cThis decimated health system is wholly unprepared to face this new polio crisis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n To effectively respond to the polio outbreak, she called for \u201ctwo sustained cessations of hostilities, no less than one week for each phase\u201d, to commence immediately.\u00a0 All attacks on humanitarian and medical personnel must end and people must be able to bring children to vaccination points in safety. \u00a0If the parties to the conflict cannot agree to implement a ceasefire, \u201cthen it falls to this Council and its members to demand and enforce one, including by adopting measures to halt the transfer of weapons to Israel and Palestinian armed groups\u201d, she stressed.<\/p>\n Save the Children\u2019s clinic in Deir al Balah has seen over 13,000\u00a0people, she said, noting that the children show signs of profound trauma, with common childhood illnesses made so much worse by lack of food and water. \u00a0Life-saving medicines are being blocked at the crossing gates by myriad restrictions.\u00a0The organization\u2019s protection teams in Gaza are working with children released from the Israeli military detention system, she said, adding: \u00a0\u201cThese children report sexual violence, including rape,\u201d as well as being denied food, attacked by dogs, and seeing their parents stripped and beaten in front of them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not humans if such briefings don\u2019t touch us,\u201d Slovenia\u2019s<\/strong> delegate<\/strong> said about that briefing, when the floor opened for discussion. \u00a0\u201cAs a parent myself, I cannot imagine the suffering of parents not able to provide their children a safe and carefree childhood,\u201d he added, voicing support for a humanitarian pause and the\u00a0plan\u00a0to allow for two rounds of vaccination campaigns in Gaza. \u00a0Noting that last week saw a \u201csobering milestone\u201d with 40,000\u00a0fatalities in the war in Gaza, he expressed support for the negotiations to finalize a ceasefire deal. \u00a0The whole world is watching to see what the Council will do and Slovenia \u201cat least\u201d feels the pressure to do something, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still counting our martyrs \u2014 over\u00a040,000,\u201d said Algeria\u2019s<\/strong> representative<\/strong>, noting this figure may rise, with the spread of polio and Israeli forces deliberately targeting hospitals.\u00a0 His country is ready to contribute to international efforts to assist the polio vaccination campaigns, including by building three hospitals in Gaza and deploying medical personnel. \u00a0However, such a campaign cannot happen under continued bombardment, he said, adding that the so-called \u201cdeconfliction mechanism\u201d in Gaza is fiction. \u00a0Despite being told for months that a ceasefire deal was close, \u201cunfortunately, nothing happened\u201d, he rued.\u00a0 The occupying Israeli authorities are determined to crush any hope for an independent Palestinian State, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital.<\/p>\n However, the representative of the<\/strong> United<\/strong> States<\/strong> said a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal is now \u201cin sight\u201d.\u00a0 Reaffirming her country\u2019s \u201ciron-clad support for Israel\u2019s security\u201d, she recalled United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken\u2019s recent visits to the region, and said Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed acceptance of the bridging proposal that her country, Qatar and Egypt put forward last week.\u00a0 \u201cThis is a decisive moment,\u201d she said, calling on all Council members to use their leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal, \u201cwhich includes massive and immediate benefits for the Palestinians in Gaza and incorporates a number of Hamas\u2019s earlier demands\u201d. \u00a0Her Government continues \u201cto work with the Israeli authorities to speed up clearances and remove restrictions so that Palestinian civilians can get much-needed food, medicine, shelter, clean water and other essentials including vaccines\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cWashington, for 10\u00a0months now, has kept the entire Council hostage, threatening their veto,\u201d the representative of the Russian Federation<\/strong> said. \u00a0He recalled that during negotiations for Council resolution\u00a02735\u00a0(2024), \u201cour American colleagues told us that the fate of the deal between Hamas and Israel on ceasefire and hostage release hinged upon that resolution\u201d.\u00a0 The Council was told that Israel had agreed to the proposed deal even while that country\u2019s official statements clearly showed no intention of stopping the military operation. \u00a0Indeed, despite that adoption, Israel is continuing its brutal operation, only pausing when it needs to.\u00a0 Now the United States is trying to sell yet another deal that suits Israel and is asking Council members to exert pressure on Hamas. \u00a0But, \u201caccording to the information we have\u201d, he said, Israel insists on keeping a military presence in Gaza.\u00a0 The Security Council \u201cnever blessed\u201d such a deal, he said, asking the representative of the United States: \u00a0\u201cOn whose behalf are you acting now?\u201d<\/p>\n Several delegates expressed concern over the lack of implementation of that text. \u00a0The representative of Sierra<\/strong> Leone<\/strong>, Council President for August, speaking in his national capacity, pointed to the \u201ccollective desperation\u201d for meaningful progress to be made towards the cessation of hostilities since the adoption of resolution 2735 (2024).\u00a0 Also expressing support for the UN\u2019s polio vaccine campaign, he underlined the need to facilitate humanitarian access to ensure an effective campaign for vulnerable children in Gaza and beyond.<\/p>\n The General Assembly, Security Council and International Court of Justice have all made clear demands for a ceasefire, China\u2019s<\/strong> representative<\/strong> pointed out, but\u00a0\u201cIsrael has turned a deaf ear to them\u201d.\u00a0More than two months after the adoption of resolution\u00a02735\u00a0(2024), Israeli military operations continue to cause new casualties every day.\u00a0 \u201cIt must be noted that humanitarian issues cannot be politicized, hunger cannot be weaponized and civilian lives cannot be trivialized as bargaining chips,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Speakers also echoed concerns about the emergence of polio on the Gaza Strip, and reiterated\u00a0the calls for a humanitarian pause, to carry out a full-scale vaccination campaign, among them the representative<\/strong> of the United Kingdom<\/strong>. \u00a0\u201cGaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child,\u201d he observed, noting that the polio outbreak is \u201canother deadly threat to a people already facing a multitude of deadly threats\u201d. \u00a0Israel must allow safe, unhindered aid access into Gaza and establish effective deconfliction mechanisms, he said, also pointing out that the British non-governmental organization UK-Med reported that their residential compound in the humanitarian zone was damaged by Israel shelling \u201cjust last night\u201d.<\/p>\n The\u00a0representative of France<\/strong> called for an urgent ceasefire and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance. \u00a0\u201cThe UN cannot work to save lives through vaccines, only to have them destroyed again by bombs and bullets,\u201d added Malta\u2019s representative.\u00a0 Meanwhile, she observed:\u00a0 \u201cWhen speaking of the living nightmare that Gazan civilians experience day after day, it is truly disturbing that all major threats to the human condition can be used as descriptors: \u00a0famine, disease, displacement, lawlessness, impunity, psychological trauma and hopelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n The speaker for the Republic of Korea<\/strong> reminded the Council that viruses do not respect borders; \u201cpolio in Gaza is a regional threat\u201d. \u00a0Israel\u2019s right to protect its citizens and security does not negate its obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, he added. \u00a0Ecuador\u2019s delegate said: \u00a0\u201cThe only lasting vaccine against polio in this context is peace.\u201d\u00a0He, as well as other delegates, also condemned the recent suicide attacks in Tel Aviv, which have been claimed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.<\/p>\n Mozambique\u2019s<\/strong> representative<\/strong> was among several speakers who highlighted the \u201crelentless and horrifying\u201d settler violence in the West Bank \u2014 he underscored the urgency of meaningful intervention in that regard. \u00a0Japan\u2019s delegate said his country has introduced sanctions against settlers, adding that their conduct undermines the viability of a two-State solution. \u00a0The representative of Switzerland noted that attacks, threats and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinians \u2014 recently seen in the village of Jit \u2014 \u201ccontinue with almost total impunity\u201d.<\/p>\n Guyana\u2019s<\/strong> delegate<\/strong> noted that while the attack on Jit \u201cwas so unprecedented that it elicited a rare condemnation from the Israeli Government\u201d, one Israeli Minister said such incidents happen because Israeli soldiers are not allowed to \u201cshoot terrorists who throw stones\u201d. \u00a0This is illustrative of Israel\u2019s heavy-handedness, she said \u2014 every form of resistance to its oppression \u201cis met with a brutality that would make some of history\u2019s most cruel oppressors blush\u201d. \u00a0She also contemplated \u201cthe illogical philosophy\u201d that has driven Israel\u2019s behaviour \u2014 while that country has established that security is one of its highest priorities, \u201cit uses its military might to make enemies in the region\u201d and undermine its own security, she said.<\/p>\n For his part, the representative<\/strong> of Israel<\/strong>, said: \u00a0\u201cWe did not ask for this war.\u201d \u00a0Israel is not intentionally killing civilians and \u201cthere is no famine in Gaza\u201d, and the Israel Defense Forces take pride in being \u201cthe most moral army in the world\u201d, he added.\u00a0 Since the start of the war, his country has facilitated more than 14,000\u00a0trucks carrying aid into Gaza \u2014 including over 700,000\u00a0tons of food, he said.\u00a0Further, it continues to work with partners to address medical needs in the Strip, he said, adding that enough polio vaccines for over 2\u00a0million Gazans were delivered between December\u00a02023 and January\u00a02024. \u00a0\u201cBetween 95\u00a0to 99\u00a0per cent of Gazans are already vaccinated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Noting that over 100,000\u00a0Israelis remain displaced in their own country \u2014 \u201cunable to return home due to constant rocket attacks by Hamas and Hizbullah\u201d \u2014 he said that, 320\u00a0days since the \u201cslaughter\u201d, the Council has not condemned Hamas for the atrocities committed on 7\u00a0October\u00a02023.\u00a0 He asked how the organ \u2014 created and charged with protecting peace after the horrors of the Holocaust \u2014 could not condemn the largest slaughter of Jews since that time.<\/p>\n It is Hamas, he continued, that puts civilians in harm\u2019s way and deprives them of international aid and, rather than condemn Hamas\u2019 abuse of its own people, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(UNRWA) and other UN agencies have chosen to collaborate with them.\u00a0 He asked:\u00a0\u201cHow can these bodies be part of the solution when they intensify the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n Emphasizing that Gaza \u201cstands at a crossroads\u201d, he said that defeating Hamas will enable civilians in the Strip to \u201cchart their own destiny in partnership with the most successful countries in the region\u201d.\u00a0 However, he stressed that \u201cso long as terrorists carrying rifles and suicide vests are entrusted to administer aid, terrorists will stay rich and civilians will remain poor\u201d.\u00a0 Against that backdrop, he stressed that the Council has a choice \u2014 \u201ccontinue down the path of moral ambiguity or stand up for what is right\u201d.<\/p>\n Gaza had been polio-free for the last 25\u00a0years, Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine,<\/strong> said. \u00a0But, now it is under threat of this terrible disease that causes paralysis and death. \u00a0\u201cGaza does not need more paralysis and death,\u201d it needs life to be restored, and it needs it now, he said.\u00a0 Voicing support for the Secretary-General\u2019s proposal for an urgent vaccination campaign, he stressed that any obstruction of this effort is proof of Israel\u2019s genocidal intent. \u00a0The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, he added.<\/p>\n Noting that the Israeli Government does not care about even its own citizens, he said it is killing hostages and bragging about retrieving their corpses when it could have secured their release alive.\u00a0 \u201cClearly, it cares more about killing Palestinians than it cares about saving Israelis,\u201d he said, adding: \u00a0\u201cThose who want to place the fate of our people in the hands of this Israeli Government, hoping it will ever act in good faith, are gravely mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho is stopping you from implementing\u201d Council resolution\u00a02735\u00a0(2024), he asked the members of the 15-member organ.\u00a0 Deal or no deal, there is no excuse for Israel\u2019s continued killing in Gaza and its assaults in the West Bank. \u00a0Israel does not have a right to genocide, and the Council has the obligation to stop a genocide, he stressed.<\/p>\n \u201c[State of Palestine] President [Mahmoud] Abbas has declared his intention and the intention of the Palestinian leadership to head to Gaza,\u201d he said, calling on the Council to visit the Gaza Strip, \u201cto see first-hand the horrors our people are enduring\u201d and to support President Abbas. \u00a0Gaza is the beating, bleeding heart of Palestine, he said, inviting \u201call those who have spines\u201d to come to the Strip and collectively impose the ceasefire and \u201cstop the bleeding.\u201d\u00a0 In September, he said, the State of Palestine plans to introduce an actionable General Assembly resolution demanding the end of this illegal occupation within a time frame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 22 August 2024 9711th Meeting (AM) Representative Calls Gaza \u2018Deadliest Place in the World to Be a Child\u2019 With polio beginning to spread through the Gaza Strip, and humanitarian and health agencies overextended, an immediate humanitarian pause and a long-term peace deal are imperative, the Security Council heard today during an open briefing on 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