The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told a UN emergency meeting Monday \u201cAn immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions,\u201d accusing Israel of \u201ccollective punishment\u201d of Palestinians and the forced displacement of civilians.<\/p>\n
Philippe Lazzarini warned that a further breakdown of civil order following the looting of the agency\u2019s warehouses by Palestinians searching for food and other aid \u201cwill make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating.\u201d Briefings to the Security Council by Lazzarini, the head of the UN children\u2019s agency UNICEF and a senior UN humanitarian official painted a dire picture of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza 23 days after Hamas\u2019 surprise Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, and its ongoing retaliatory military action aimed at \u201cobliterating\u201d the militant group, which controls Gaza.<\/p>\n
According to the latest figures from Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health, more than 8,300 people have been killed \u2013 66 per cent of them women and children \u2013 and tens of thousands injured, the UN humanitarian office said. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell that the toll includes over 3,400 children killed and more than 6,300 injured. \u201cThis means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day \u2013 a number which should shake each of us to our core,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lazzarini said:. \u201cThis surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world\u2019s conflict zones since 2019.\u201d And he stressed: \u201cThis cannot be `collateral damage.'\u201d Many speakers at the council meeting denounced Hamas\u2019 October 7 surprise attacks on Israel that killed over 1,400 people, and urged the release of some 230 hostages taken to Gaza by the militants. But virtually every speaker also stressed that Israel is obligated under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and their essentials for life including hospitals, schools and other infrastructure \u2013 and Israel was criticized for cutting off food, water, fuel and medicine to Gaza and cutting communications for several days.<\/p>\n
Lazzarini said \u201cthe handful of convoys\u201d allowed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt in recent days \u201cis nothing compared to the needs of over 2 million people trapped in Gaza.\u201d \u201cThe system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail,\u201d he said, \u201cunless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs.\u201d The commissioner-general of the UN agency known as UNRWA said there is no safe place anywhere in Gaza, warning that basic services are crumbling, medicine, food, water and fuel are running out, and the streets \u201chave started overflowing with sewage, which will cause a massive health hazard very soon.\u201d UNICEF oversees water and sanitation issues for the UN, and Russell warned that \u201cthe lack of clean water and safe sanitation is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the divided Security Council \u2013 which has rejected four resolutions that would have responded to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the ongoing war \u2013 to come together, saying \u201cthe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day.\u201d Stressing that all innocent civilians must be protected, she said the council must call \u201cfor the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel\u2019s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected.\u201d She reiterated President Joe Biden\u2019s call for humanitarian pauses to get hostages out, allow aid in, and safe passage for civilians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means Hamas must not use Palestinians as human shields \u2013 an act of unthinkable cruelty and a violation of the law of war,\u201d the US ambassador said, \u201cand that means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.\u201d In a sign of increasing US concern at the escalating Palestinian death toll, Thomas-Greenfield told the council Biden reiterated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday \u201cthat while Israel has the right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism, it must do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law.\u201d \u201cThe fact that Hamas operates within and under the cover of civilians areas creates an added burden for Israel, but it does not lessen its responsibility to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n
Following the rejection of the four resolutions in the 15-member Security Council \u2013 one vetoed by the US, one vetoed by Russia and China, and two for failing to get the minimum nine \u201cyes\u201d votes \u2013 Arab nations went to the UN General Assembly last Friday where there are no vetoes. The 193-member world body adopted a resolution calling for humanitarian truces leading to a cessation of hostilities by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. Now, the 10 elected members in the 15-member Security Council are trying again to negotiate a resolution that won\u2019t be rejected. While council resolutions are legally binding, assembly resolutions are not though they are an important barometer of world opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told a UN emergency meeting Monday \u201cAn immediate humanitarian ceasefire has\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":8956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[2040,1485,1380,1680,1486,493,1418,2484,1535,344,608,775],"class_list":["post-8955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-civilian-casualties","tag-egypt","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-hospital-attack","tag-humanitarian-assistance","tag-humanitarian-crisis","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-palestinians","tag-rafah-crossing","tag-un","tag-unicef","tag-unsc"],"reading_time":"5 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}