8 April 2024
Distinguished Delegates,
Today’s debate, convened in the context of the veto initiative, is a clear demonstration that two principal organs of the United Nations – the General Assembly and the Security Council – can and do work together to maintain international peace and security.
Ultimately, the two principal organs serve the same purpose enshrined in the UN Charter – to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.
While I support the thrust of the veto initiative – as a pioneering tool for transparency and accountability – I express deep regret that we must routinely employ it due to the perennial inability of the Security Council to speak with one voice on matters of grave importance and sensitivity in relation to the maintenance of international peace and security.
Once again, we convene under this initiative as conflict in Gaza rages into its sixth bloody month, as death and destruction rule the day, and as divisions among Member States, especially in the Council, persist.
With this foremost on our minds, I again call on Member States to approach today’s debate with a sincere spirit of cooperation, mindful that the Assembly – as the world’s parliament – also has the singular priority to prevent further bloodshed and to save lives.
The conflict in Gaza is a blight on our common humanity – “unparalleled in its intensity, brutality and scope,” in the words of UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths.
The mounting numbers speak to the horrors of life in the Gaza Strip:
Over 32,500 Palestinians killed, the majority of them women and children.
Over 75,000 injured.
1.7 million people displaced – the majority of them, multiple times.
On top of this, over 1.1 million people are at a catastrophic IPC Phase 5 level of food insecurity.
Gaza is being pushed into famine; a wholly preventable famine.
173 UNRWA staff have been killed since 7 October; the highest number of UN staff killed in any conflict, anywhere.
Against this backdrop, on 24 March, Israeli authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza.
To be clear: this constitutes the deliberate obstruction of life-saving aid, and it has only one result – more preventable death.
I urgently appeal to the Israel authorities to reverse this decision.
The average of 159 aid trucks crossing into Gaza per day is well below operational capacity and indeed humanitarian necessity considering that – 500 trucks of humanitarian supplies are required to serve those in need.
With starvation spreading, and increasing reports of the demise of children as a result, it is incumbent upon Israel to urgently and exponentially scale up, guarantee and maintain uninterrupted humanitarian access.
Excellencies,
The demands of the international community, as expressed by the overwhelming majority of this General Assembly on more than one occasion, have been clear:
An immediate humanitarian ceasefire must be secured.
All parties must comply with their obligations under international law.
All hostages must be immediately and unconditionally released, and unhindered humanitarian access must be ensured, without conditions.
While I welcome the Council’s resolution 2728 (2024) – demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan – as an important and highly responsible step in the right direction, it comes after five painful months of division, bloodshed and unconscionable loss.
And the misery in Gaza has only endured – what the people of Gaza need is an unconditional cease-fire.
On March 26th, Yusuf Ghaben – a father of nine – was one of 12 people who drowned in a desperate attempt to reach and secure food aid to feed his children off Gaza’s northwestern coast.
Also on March 26th, the world also heard the harrowing account of Amit Soussana – an Israeli woman who was violently abducted from her home on October 7th and held in captivity for 55 days.
Today, we also mourn the unspeakable loss of seven World Central Kitchen volunteers – who were ruthlessly killed last week by an air strike while traveling through a deconflicted zone, bringing food to the starving.
No one – I repeat, no one – should need to swim to retrieve food while food convoys are lined up outside the gate waiting to be let in.
No one should ever know the hell of being kidnapped, indefinitely – and no family to the anguish of waiting for news of their fate.
No humanitarian worker should ever be the target of an air strike – most outrageously in an area meant for safe passage.
It cannot and must not be the case that our politics are too slow to catch up to these sobering realities.
It cannot be the case that we normalize around these shameful disconnects.
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
With tomorrow marking the end of Ramadan, millions around the world will celebrate Eid in the safety of their homes – while Gazans will again offer prayers on the ruins of mosques and their obliterated homes.
I implore the Security Council members to meaningfully use their power in support of an immediate – and importantly, a lasting ceasefire on the ground.
We have enough stories of death and division to fill the history books for generations.
Unless we engender genuine political will – and embrace these lives, universally, as our own – these stories of pain and suffering will be all we have.
I urge all those with leverage to do all in their power to end the bloodshed in Gaza now.
Let us see the end of the waiting, including for the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in line with the two-State solution, as the only credible formula for lasting resolution.
I thank you.