TANZANIA – The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees informed a U.N. emergency assembly Monday “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” accusing Israel of “collective punishment” of Palestinians and the pressured displacement of civilians.
Philippe Lazzarini warned {that a} additional breakdown of civil order following the looting of the agency’s warehouses by means of Palestinians looking for meals and different help “will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest U.N. agency in Gaza to continue operating.”
Briefings to the Security Council by means of Lazzarini, the top of the U.N. youngsters’s agency UNICEF and a senior U.N. humanitarian respectable painted a dire image of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza 23 days after Hamas’ marvel Oct. 7 assaults in Israel, and its ongoing retaliatory army motion geared toward “obliterating” the militant team, which controls Gaza.
According to the most recent figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 8,300 people have been killed – 66% of them ladies and youngsters – and tens of hundreds injured, the U.N. humanitarian workplace mentioned.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell that toll comprises over 3,400 youngsters killed and greater than 6,300 injured. “This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day – a number which should shake each of us to our core,” she mentioned.
Lazzarini mentioned:. “This surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.” And he stressed out: “This cannot be `collateral damage.’”
Many audio system on the council assembly denounced Hamas’ Oct. 7 marvel assaults on Israel that killed over 1,400 other people, and instructed the discharge of some 230 hostages taken to Gaza by means of the militants. But nearly each and every speaker additionally stressed out that Israel is obligated below world humanitarian legislation to give protection to civilians and their necessities for life together with hospitals, colleges and different infrastructure – and Israel was once criticized for slicing off meals, water, gas and medication to Gaza and slicing communications for a number of days.
Lazzarini mentioned “the handful of convoys” allowed into Gaza in the course of the Rafah crossing from Egypt in contemporary days “is nothing compared to the needs of over 2 million people trapped in Gaza.”
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail,” he said, “unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs.”
The commissioner-general of the U.N. agency referred to as UNRWA mentioned there is no protected position anyplace in Gaza, caution that elementary services and products are crumbling, medication, meals, water and gas are working out, and the streets “have started overflowing with sewage, which will cause a massive health hazard very soon.”
UNICEF oversees water and sanitation problems for the U.N., and Russell warned that “the lack of clean water and safe sanitation is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe.”
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield instructed the divided Security Council – which has rejected 4 resolutions that will have replied to the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults and the continuing warfare – to return in combination, pronouncing “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day.”
Stressing that each one blameless civilians will have to be safe, she mentioned the council will have to name “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected.” She reiterated President Joe Biden’s name for humanitarian pauses to get hostages out, permit help in, and protected passage for civilians.
“That means Hamas must not use Palestinians as human shields – an act of unthinkable cruelty and a violation of the law of war,” the U.S. ambassador mentioned, “and that means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.”
In an indication of expanding U.S. fear on the escalating Palestinian dying toll, Thomas-Greenfield informed the council Biden reiterated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday “that 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.”
“The 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,” she stressed out.
Following the rejection of the 4 resolutions in the 15-member Security Council – one vetoed by means of the U.S., one vetoed by means of Russia and China, and two for failing to get the minimal 9 “yes” votes – Arab international locations went to the U.N. General Assembly final Friday the place there are not any vetoes.
The 193-member international frame followed a solution calling for humanitarian truces resulting in a cessation of hostilities by means of a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. Now, the ten elected contributors in the 15-member Security Council are attempting once more to barter a solution that gained’t be rejected. While council resolutions are legally binding, meeting resolutions aren’t even though they’re a very powerful barometer of international opinion.