{"id":315038,"date":"2026-02-03T11:30:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=315038"},"modified":"2026-04-22T10:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:24:21","slug":"occupation-must-end-secretary-general-demands-at-opening-of-un-palestinian-rights-committee-session-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/occupation-must-end-secretary-general-demands-at-opening-of-un-palestinian-rights-committee-session-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening of UN Palestinian Rights Committee 2026 session – Meeting Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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426th Meeting (AM)<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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GA\/PAL\/1490<\/strong><\/div>\n
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3 February 2026<\/strong><\/div>\n
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\u2018Occupation Must End\u2019, Secretary-General Demands at Opening of Palestinian Rights Committee Session<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People began its work for\u00a02026<\/a>, humanitarian organizations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory drew attention to dangerous restrictions on their work.<\/p>\n

UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres was among the many speakers today who stressed that \u201cthe occupation must end\u201d. \u00a0Highlighting the recently published tender by Israel for 3,401\u00a0housing units in the E1 Area, he warned:\u00a0 \u201cIf carried forward, it would sever the northern and southern West Bank, undermine territorial contiguity and strike a severe blow to the viability of a two-State solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The international community must support United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(UNRWA), he continued, condemning the adoption by the Israeli Parliament of laws that further impede the Agency\u2019s ability to operate. \u00a0About Israeli authorities\u2019 actions to demolish the UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah compound in occupied East Jerusalem, he said: \u00a0\u201cLet me be clear:\u00a0 UNRWA premises are United Nations premises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palestine Relief Agency Appeals for Protection, Citing Facility Destruction<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Michael Contet, Director of the New York Office of UNRWA, described the near-total destruction of the Agency\u2019s compound in occupied East Jerusalem on 25\u00a0January, carried out by Israeli authorities using bulldozers. \u00a0On that occasion, he added, a local Israeli official called for the annihilation of UNRWA staff. \u00a0Actions against the Agency also include \u201ca large-scale dis- and misinformation campaign\u201d, including the repetition of allegations that have already been proven wrong or remain unsubstantiated.<\/p>\n

Though\u00a0385\u00a0staffers have been killed and many of its installations destroyed, some 11,000\u00a0UNRWA personnel in Gaza still remain hard at work. \u00a0They provide healthcare to almost 100,000\u00a0Palestinians weekly in Gaza and in-person learning to more than 66,000\u00a0students across 73\u00a0UNRWA shelters.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegrettably, months after the ceasefire was announced, our work continues to be hindered by restrictions on humanitarian access on the ground and bureaucratic hurdles,\u201d he said. \u00a0He highlighted four appeals from his agency: \u00a0lift Israeli restrictions on the Agency\u2019s operations in the occupied Palestinian territory; protect the rights of Palestine refugees; support UNRWA\u2019s role in implementing Security Council resolution\u00a02803\u00a0(2025), the New York Declaration and the Arab-Islamic Early Recovery, Reconstruction and Development Plan for Gaza; and secure urgent and adequate funding to sustain the Agency\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

Humanitarian Organizations Say Israeli Restrictions Are Cutting Aid to Gaza<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Itay Epshtain, Special Adviser with the Norwegian Refugee Council, said that, on 30\u00a0December\u00a02025, 37\u00a0international non-governmental organizations\u00a0(NGOs), including his, were notified that their registration with Israel would expire within 60\u00a0days, without substantive assessment of pending applications or guidance on compliance. \u00a0This deregistration is already producing measurable harm, he said.\u00a0 Since early January, organizations without renewed Israeli registration have been denied staff rotations in and out of Gaza. \u00a0As a result, relief programmes have been interrupted and supply chains have been cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a marginal disruption,\u201d he stressed, because international\u00a0NGOs\u00a0implement a substantial proportion of shelter, health water, food security, protection and education activities. \u00a0\u201cThe Palestinian population bears the cost\u201d of this disruption in drastic reduction of assistance, but these restrictions also have legal and political significance, he pointed out. \u00a0\u201cSubordinating humanitarian presence through Israeli administrative discretion\u201d risks transforming relief itself into an \u201cinstrument of subjugation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Further, international\u00a0NGOs are legally unable to comply with these restrictions due to binding data protection and privacy laws, he pointed out. \u00a0Compliance would expose organizations to regulatory sanctions \u201cand serious protection risk for staff and beneficiaries\u201d. \u00a0Refusal is therefore a legal obligation.<\/p>\n

Deregistration of international\u00a0NGOs\u00a0is not merely administrative, it is part of a wider architecture of domination over the Palestinian people. \u00a0Describing this as a political assault, he warned that if such practices are normalized, they will not be confined to Palestine, they will become part of the \u201cglobal repertoire of humanitarian restrictions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sam Zarifi, Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights, also echoed the urgent need to push back against the restrictions on humanitarian organizations. \u00a0The international community must step up to protect healthcare workers and facilities. \u00a0In particular, he highlighted the \u201creproductive violence\u201d perpetrated by Israel. \u00a0The damage to Gaza\u2019s health infrastructure, combined with restrictions on food and medical supplies \u2014 including baby formula \u2014 have created an environment in which \u201cthe fundamental biological processes of reproduction and survival have been systematically degraded\u201d, he said. \u00a0These harms were foreseeable and resulted in suffering and death which was entirely avoidable.<\/p>\n

Palestine\u2019s Observer Urges Permanent Ceasefire<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The\u00a0Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine lamented the 72,000\u00a0Palestinian deaths in Gaza \u201cnot counting those still under the rubble\u201d, the displacement of more than 40,000\u00a0people in the West Bank, \u201cparticularly from refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm\u201d and the violence perpetrated by \u201cterrorist settlers\u201d. \u00a0Only two days ago the Israeli occupying forces breached the ceasefire and killed 31\u00a0Palestinian civilians, including children and women, in one single day, he noted. \u00a0\u201cBut, our people are resisting\u201d and fighting for their rights, he said.<\/p>\n

Welcoming the ceasefire, he underscored that it must be permanent and full. \u00a0\u201cIsrael should not continue to go and kill our people as they wish,\u201d he said. \u00a0Humanitarians, including\u00a0UNRWA should be allowed to continue their life-saving work. \u00a0His Government has requested 200,000\u00a0temporary housing units \u201cto help our people stay on our land\u201d and not get pushed out of the Gaza Strip as the current Israeli government is trying to do \u2014 these must be provided immediately.<\/p>\n

Further, \u201cwe want to see the beginning of the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip\u201d, he said. \u00a0Israel has confessed its aims to transform the Yellow Line into a border and partition and annex Gaza. \u00a0But, \u201cGaza is not a piece of land that is hanging in the air for anyone to grab it\u201d, he said. \u00a0The West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip constitute a single territorial unit and the State of Palestine must become a full member of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

The adoption of the New York Declaration and efforts towards implementing the two-State solution mark a historic turning point, echoed Coly Seck (Senegal), who was unanimously re-elected as Chair \u2014 his country has chaired this Committee for 50\u00a0years. \u00a0The Committee did not begin its work in October\u00a02023, he noted; it has been responding to decades of injustice.\u00a0 The fact that \u201cthis Committee is still alive and being heard at the United Nations is thanks to the support of its members and observers\u201d, he added. \u00a0\u201cPeace in Palestine is too serious an issue for the Committee to halt its work without achieving tangible results,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Committee Elects Bureau, Adopts Programme of Work<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In other business, the Committee approved Chile\u2019s request to become a member, pending final approval by the General Assembly. \u00a0Chile\u2019s representative said that the country hosts \u201cthe largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Arab world\u201d, with tens of thousands of people who are fully integrated into Chile\u2019s cultural and social life.\u00a0 This strong cultural link with the Palestinian people creates a particular responsibility for his country, he said, expressing interest in hosting multilateral events focused on Palestinian rights and on strengthening respect for international law.<\/p>\n

The Committee also adopted its programme of work for\u00a02026.\u00a0Ernesto Sober\u00f3n Guzm\u00e1n (Cuba), Umar Hadi (Indonesia), Ahmad Faisal Muhamad (Malaysia), Pendapala Naanda (Namibia) and Jaime Hermida Castillo (Nicaragua) were elected as Vice-Chairs.<\/p>\n

Elected Vice-Chairs also took the floor today, with Nicaragua\u2019s delegate condemning \u201cthe systematic campaign of bullying and harassment that Israel has undertaken against UNRWA\u201d while Cuba\u2019s speaker warned against \u201cirresponsible projection of power by the current United States Administration\u201d, which is reverberating across the Middle East.\u00a0 His counterpart from Malaysia underscored an unconditional obligation of the occupying Power to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance into the Occupied Palestinian Territory.\u00a0\u00a0Indonesia\u2019s delegate said the growing recognition of the State of Palestine by a broader UN membership, together with the adoption of the New York Declaration, \u201csignals increasing political will to reinvigorate efforts towards the realization of the two-State solution\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cNamibia will continue with its unconditional support and solidarity to the Palestinian people,\u201d the country\u2019s representative said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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