Although the international community is providing urgent assistance to Gaza in the wake of the most recent round of hostilities, a political solution is still needed to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, a senior UN official in the region said on Wednesday.
Only a political solution will end the “senseless and costly cycles of violence” between Israelis and Palestinians, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said in a briefing to the Security Council on Thursday.
COVID-19 continues to have a devastating effect on Palestinians, the Secretary-General’s envoy for the Middle East peace process told the Security Council on Thursday, urging greater support for vaccination efforts.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and their international partners, must urgently resume peace efforts “before it is too late”, UN Middle East envoy Nikolay Mladenov told the Security Council on Tuesday, echoing the Secretary-General.
More than five years of war have “devastated the lives of tens of millions of Yemenis”, with experts estimating that up to one million may have been affected by COVID-19, the UN chief told the General Assembly on Thursday.
Despite a reduction in largescale hostilities since a ceasefire in March, the UN Syrian Commission of Inquiry reported on Monday that armed actors continue to subject civilians to horrific and increasingly targeted abuse.
Until outstanding issues related to Syria’s initial declaration of its chemical weapons stockpile and programme are resolved, the international community cannot have full confidence that its activities have ended, the UN’s top disarmament expert told the Security Council on Thursday.
The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a health and socio-economic emergency across the occupied Palestinian territory, the UN agency for the region warned on Friday, noting a swell of coronavirus cases in recent weeks.
