We welcome the Security Council’s call to increase aid to Gaza… and calls for a ceasefire
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations described the Security Council resolution demanding intensified aid delivery to Gaza on Friday as a “step in the right direction,” but repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire.
Riyad Mansour said: “This decision is a step in the right direction… It must be implemented and must be accompanied by tremendous pressure for an immediate ceasefire… I repeat, an immediate ceasefire,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
Today, the UN Security Council approved a draft resolution submitted by the UAE calling for the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip and increased humanitarian access to the Strip. 13 countries voted in favor of the UAE draft resolution, and both the United States and Russia abstained from voting.
For his part, Israel’s representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, criticized the UN Security Council, and said after the vote: “The United Nations’ focus only on aid mechanisms for Gaza is unnecessary and disconnected from reality… Israel is already allowing aid to be delivered at the required level… The United Nations should have The United States should focus on the humanitarian crisis of hostages.
Erdan thanked the United States for its strong support for Israel during negotiations on the resolution, which he said preserves Israel’s security authority regarding inspection of aid entering Gaza.
In turn, the Hamas movement, which is waging a war against Israel in the Gaza Strip, considered the UN Security Council resolution calling for expanding the entry of aid into Gaza an “insufficient” step, and does not meet the “requirements of the catastrophic situation” in the Strip.
Hamas said, “The American administration worked to produce the Security Council resolution in this weak form to allow Israel to complete the mission of destruction and killing in the Gaza Strip.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, after approving the expansion of humanitarian aid to Gaza, that the Israeli attack is “the real problem… and there are major obstacles” to the introduction of this aid. He added, “A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to meet the dire needs of the population in Gaza and put an end to their ongoing nightmare.”
The US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that the UN Security Council resolution “provided a glimmer of hope in the midst of a sea of unimaginable suffering.”
The American delegate stressed that her country feels “dismayed that the Council was once again unable to condemn the horrific Hamas terrorist attack” on October 7.
She said that her country “worked tirelessly to alleviate this humanitarian crisis,” and to remove the hostages from Gaza and for lasting peace. She added: “Let us be clear, Hamas has no interest in reaching a lasting peace… Hamas is determined to repeat the atrocities of October 7 over and over again… That is why the United States supports Israel’s right to protect its people from acts of terrorism.”
As for the British delegate to the Security Council, Barbara Woodward, she said that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will not continue if Hamas continues its ability to work in tunnels and fire rockets.
The British delegate renewed her country’s condemnation of Hamas’ actions and its support for Israel’s right to self-defense, and said, “Our commitment to Israel’s security is firm.”
The UAE representative to the Security Council, Lana Nusseibeh, said that the text of the draft resolution that her country submitted to the Council calls on the parties to create the conditions conducive to a complete cessation of hostilities and to protect United Nations personnel and humanitarian facilities in Gaza.
Nusseibeh added that the text calls for urgent measures to expand humanitarian access to Gaza without obstacles. She said that a ceasefire is the only way to end the conflict in Gaza.
She called for the unification of the West Bank and Gaza under one Palestinian authority, and said that the two-state solution and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state is “the only path to ensuring security and prosperity for Palestinians and Israelis.”
In turn, Egypt’s representative to the United Nations, Osama Abdel Khaleq, called for Israel to be obligated to cease fire throughout the Gaza Strip “immediately and unconditionally.”
He added that Israel cannot be considered a neutral party in providing humanitarian support to the Gaza Strip, pointing out that the residents of Gaza “are being exposed to a horrific disaster for the third month as a result of Israel’s war on the Strip,” which he said is witnessing “a horrific catastrophe unparalleled since World War II.”
Abdel Khaleq pointed out that what he described as the “catastrophic situation” in Gaza coincides with an escalation in incursions and settler attacks in the West Bank, which threatens to explode the situation in the Palestinian territories.
#Israel #opens #front #Gaza
2023-12-23 07:38:13
