The UN Security Council met again on Friday to discuss the ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis as negotiations continue behind the scenes within the 15 member body to reach some consensus position over the war raging in Gaza. Ambassadors heard searing testimony from the UN health agency chief who said the entire health system of the enclave was now “on its knees”.
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WHO’s Tedros: Health system is ‘on its knees’
The situation on the ground in Gaza is grim, said the WHO chief, from hospitals conducting operations without anaesthesia to the fact that a child is killed every ten minutes.
“Nowhere and no one is safe,” he said, adding that medical staff are grappling to try to manage the health needs of 2.3 million people.
Since the start of the conflict, there have been more than 250 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and 25 in Israel, including hospitals, clinics, patients and ambulances, he said. More than 100 UN colleagues have been killed. Half of Gaza’s hospitals are not functioning at all and the remaining are operating far beyond their capacities.
“The health system is on its knees,” he said.
Tedros said he fully understood the anger and grief of the Israeli people following the “barbaric” Hamas attacks. The killing of 1,400 was “incomprehensible”, he added, noting the mental health consequences for survivors would continue for a long time.
Gravely concerned for the hostages still being held, he said he would meet with more of their families next week in Geneva.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus briefs the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.
He said he also understood the anger, grief and fear of the people of Gaza, suffering “the destruction of their families, their homes, their communities and the life they knew”.
Tedros said having lived through war as a child and as a parent, he well understood the suffering and horror being experienced in Gaza today.
Expressing a long-held view and drawing on his experience as foreign minister of Ethiopia, he said the Council itself does not serve the purpose for which it was established and not for the 21st century, adding that “to remain credible, relevant and a force for peace in our world, Member States…must take seriously the need to reform the Security Council.”
Urgent aid, now
The WHO chief said the best way to show support is providing what health workers need to save lives. About 63 tonnes of such aid has been sent, but unfettered access is needed to reach the civilians, who are not responsible for the crisis.
An average of 500 trucks per day crossed into Gaza with essential supplies before the conflict. Following two-week-long closure of all crossing into Gaza, only 650 aid trucks have entered the enclave since 21 October, he said.
WHO continues to call for a ceasefire. He also called on Hamas to release the hostages and on Israel to restore supplies of water, electricity and especially fuel. In addition, he called for both sides to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.
“I understand what the children of Gaza must be going through because as a child, I went through the same,” he said, recalling the sounds of tracer bullets, gunfire and “the smell and images” of war. “I know what war means.”
Israeli and Palestinian children and families want peace and security.
Here are the main highlights from today’s humanitarian briefings:
HIGHLIGHTS
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), called for a ceasefire to save lives and speed the delivery of much needed aid, saying “nowhere and no one is safe” in Gaza
- The UN health chief also said medical staff continue to grapple with trying to manage the growing needs of 2.3 million people without the lifesaving aid required to treat the ill and injured
- Marwan Jilani, Director General of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, said Gaza’s “health sector is under attack”, calling on the Council to step up to do its part to end the violence, ensure international humanitarian law is upheld and open safe pathways for aid
- At the outset of the meeting, everyone in the Council Chamber stood for a minute of silence for all those who lost their lives in Israel due to the 7 October attacks and all those Palestinian civilians who have died during the fighting
Russia: Safe zones ‘do not exist in the Gaza Strip’
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the “shocking” briefings from humanitarians and the current situation describe a “catastrophe”, with massive destruction of civilian targets.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia of the Russian Federation addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
Turning to the colossal shortage of such basic supplies as water, he said if needs are not met, the consequences and fallout will continue for decades to come.
“In all wars, there are laws,” he said, referring to a recent report of strikes against hospitals and mosques in southern Gaza. “Safe zones today simply do not exist in the Gaza Strip.”
Mr. Nebenzia said violence in the West Bank also deserves the Council’s close scrutiny amid reports of collective punishment and arbitrary arrests and a reported 148 Palestinian deaths.
A prompt ceasefire, and not short-term pauses, is the only way to end new casualties and allow aid deliveries. The risk of the conflict spilling into the region are serious, he said. Enhanced foreign military presence in the zone, specifically the US, are part of the overall escalation of tensions.
As such, he underlined the need to relaunch the peace process in the Middle East.
4:45 PM
United Kingdom: Pauses in northern Gaza are ‘first step’
Barbara Woodward, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UK, said it is essential and urgent that more aid flows into Gaza through Rafah and other crossing points to meet current desperate humanitarian needs.
As such, pauses must be implemented to allow aid delivery, including fuel, and the hostages must be released.
“Pauses in northern Gaza are a first step,” she said, but any such efforts must ensure the needed time and security to allow aid to be delivered. International humanitarian law is not “nice to have” but what keeps medical workers, civilians and related infrastructure safe, she said, calling on both sides to live up to their obligations under international law.
Expressing condolences for each life lost, she said Israel must do more to prevent an escalation of the situation in the West Bank. In closing, she said the UK remains unwaveringly committed to the two-State solution.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe Ambassador Barbara Woodward of the United Kingdom addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
4:27 PM
United States: Two-State solution ‘only path to peace’
US Deputy Permanent Representative Robert Wood said his delegation has empathy for both sides, adding that “acknowledging one party’s suffering does not negate or detract from the other’s.”
Washington is monitoring the situation at Gaza hospitals, he said, highlighting the need to protect them and the civilians they serve and that “much more work remains to be done to meet humanitarian needs in Gaza.”
UN Photo/Loey Felipe Deputy Permanent Representative Robert A. Wood of the United States addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
“How Israel responds to Hamas, matters,” but its response must respect international humanitarian law, he said. Meanwhile, humanitarian needs in Gaza are immense, he added, stressing that pauses in hostilities can provide a route to get aid to those in need.
“We are all committed to work towards these ends,” he said. “It is time to step up and support the efforts of the UN.”
Underlining the necessity of ending the conflict to secure lasting peace in the region, he said “the only path to peace is through a two-State solution.”
4:15 PM
United Arab Emirates: World witnessing birth of ‘lost generation’
United Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh paid tribute to the silent heroes who are delivering lifesaving medical assistance in Gaza.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
She also shared stories about some of the people affected by the conflict, such as a medical student called Alaa whose home was levelled in an Israeli airstrike. The young woman was pulled alive from the rubble, along with the lifeless bodies of her mother, brother and nephew.
“I feel the need to remind the Council that, like Alaa, every single one of the 2,650 currently reported as trapped under rubble are human beings and that more than half of them are children,” she said.
The UAE is establishing a field hospital in Gaza, working in solidarity with local medical personnel and in cooperation with Israel, to help alleviate the suffering. However, she said, this is but “a plaster on a fracture”.
She said there can be no doubt that the attacks by Israel in pursuit of its security are disproportionate, cruel and inhumane, which she condemned in the strongest possible terms.
“We must also not forget that those held hostage in Gaza by Hamas, many of them children, are also suffering under the same bombardment and psychological trauma and they must be released immediately,” she added.
The Ambassador warned that the world was “witnessing the making of a lost generation of children and youth physically and mentally scarred by these experiences.”
4:05 PM
Israel: Hamas guilty of war crimes ‘of epic proportions’
Gilad Erdan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Israel, said Israelis had endured a pogrom five weeks ago on a par with the Kristallnacht massacres of November 1938 under the Nazis.
He said the focus of the briefing was on Gaza’s hospitals, but made no mention of a direct attack on an Israeli hospital just a few days ago by Hamas rockets.
He said Hamas fighters had been shooting at ambulances to prevent them from helping the wounded and that Israel had exposed that Hamas has its main headquarters in and underneath Al Shifa hospital, using ambulances as a means of transporting weapons.
“Every inch of Gaza has been turned into a terror trap,” he said, adding that “nothing is sacred” to “these Hamas terrorists”.
“It is a war crime of epic proportions,” he continued. “How can we possibly hold a briefing on the medical situation without making this the primary issue of this meeting?”
For weeks, he said, Israel has given civilians all due warning and safe passage to leave the Hamas controlled warzone while Hamas is preventing them from doing so.