Middle East

The UN Secretary-General on Friday voiced grave concerns over “further spillover” of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as the Security Council discussed the situation in the Middle East against the backdrop of escalating violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and the relentless bombardment in the war-ravaged Strip.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed hope that a Security Council resolution to get more aid into Gaza, adopted on Friday, could pave the way to a humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The Security Council has adopted a resolution on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, with 13 votes in favour, and the US and Russia abstaining. The resolution, among other points, demands immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday marked another intense day of diplomacy in the Security Council in New York, where negotiations continued to try and reach consensus on further unified action in response to the crisis in Gaza, more than ten weeks after terror attacks by Hamas plunged the Israel-Palestine conflict into an unprecedented phase of violence and devastation. Ambassadors have delayed the vote again, until Wednesday.

The UN General Assembly met on Tuesday afternoon in Emergency Special Session on the decades long Israel-Palestine conflict and as the ongoing crisis in Gaza shows no signs of abating.  

In a special emergency session held on Sunday in Geneva, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a resolution by consensus, aimed at addressing the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Secretary-General on Sunday pledged that he would “not give up” on appealing for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, adding that inaction on the Security Council was undermining its credibility.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday morning New York time to discuss the catastrophic situation in Gaza. This follows Wednesday’s urgent letter by Secretary-General António Guterres – one of the most powerful tools at his disposal – urging the body to help end carnage in the war-battered enclave through a lasting humanitarian ceasefire. A resolution tabled late afternoon in the chamber calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire was vetoed by the United States.

The UN Security Council met intensively through Wednesday morning in New York on the Middle East crisis. It was the first open meeting since the 15-member body passed a resolution in mid-November and the first featuring foreign ministers from across the region and beyond.

The look on people’s faces in Gaza reveals “the trauma, the stress, as if sorrow and sadness have taken root here in Gaza”, according to James Elder, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson who has joined the aid effort in the besieged enclave.