Urgent action is needed to address the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in Gaza, a senior humanitarian UN official told the Security Council today, as delegates expressed horror at the recent strike on a hospital that killed displaced persons sheltering there, amidst Israel’s intensifying operations in northern Gaza.
“The atrocities in Gaza must end, but this cannot happen through words; it must happen through action – urgent, unequivocal action,” declared Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, who reported that, since her last briefing to the Council on 9 October, the people of Gaza have suffered multiple mass casualties due to Israeli air strikes, with nearly 400 Palestinians killed in Gaza and almost 1,500 injured. “The world has seen the images of patients and displaced persons, sheltering near Al-Aqsa Hospital, burning alive, while others, including women and children, are suffering the excruciating pain of severe life-changing burns,” without any way to get urgent care, she said.
Detailing other developments in northern Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive is intensifying and Jabaliya is under siege, where 55,000 displaced people are stranded with water and food running out, she reported that, hours before, a strike on a school serving as a shelter in Nuseirat killed more than 20 people. Meanwhile, only 3 of the 10 hospitals in North Gaza Governorate are now operational and only at minimum capacity. In addition, 11,000 pregnant women have no antenatal care. On 12 October, an inter-agency team – from the United Nations, an international, non-governmental organization and the Palestine Red Crescent Society – was finally able to reach the Kamal Adwan and Al-Sahaba hospitals in northern Gaza, “after nine separate attempts where they were denied or impeded by Israeli forces,” she pointed out, stressing that “humanitarian aid cannot be provided in one-off batches”.
Also reporting that no food aid entered northern Gaza from 2 October to 15 October, when a trickle was allowed in, she said: “Given the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in north Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access is nearly non-existent is unconscionable.” Less than a third of the 286 humanitarian missions coordinated with Israeli authorities in the first two weeks of October were facilitated without major incidents or delays. “This woeful and unacceptable trend must change,” she stated. However, the second polio campaign began in northern Gaza, with teams from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) vaccinating 43 per cent of children the first day, thus demonstrating the critical role of the Agency.
“The level of suffering in Gaza defies our ability to capture it in words, or even to comprehend its scale,” she said, underscoring that international law must be respected, and the Council must exert all their influence to ensure it. The wounded and sick must receive the care they need, and hospitals and medical personnel must be protected. The provisional orders and determinations of the International Court of Justice must be respected. There must be accountability for international crimes.
In the face of the “monstrosity” unfolding in northern Gaza, “silence and inaction are not an option,” said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine. The Palestinian and Lebanese people are paying the price for Israel’s impunity. Yet that country is not being held accountable for any of it. In northern Gaza, 400,000 besieged, starved, and bombed Palestinians are being subjected to the so-called General Plan, according to which any Palestinian remaining in the north is considered a legitimate military target. “That is not war. These are crimes. They must be stopped. And they must be stopped now.”
Although “many members around this table refuse to do so”, he called on the Council to “fight back with the tools provided by the Charter and by the law to combat those who are obliterating the Charter and the law”. The massacres have to stop. “Ceasefire now,” he said, declaring: “We are not powerless. This Council is not powerless. These United Nations are not powerless. The international community is not powerless.” Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance; the future of the region hangs in the balance. “It is time to act. Anything else is complicity and surrender,” he stressed. “The Palestinian people enduring hell did not surrender. Neither should you.”
However, Israel’s representative, detailing recent attacks against his country, including Hizbullah’s launching of 320 missiles and drones on Yom Kippur, underscored that while today’s meeting is on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Israelis are targeted daily by those seeking their destruction. Although “101 human beings have been tormented by Hamas terrorists in their terror dungeons” for the past 376 days, Council members barely mentioned the hostages, or did so as an afterthought, he said. “Hamas must release the hostages immediately and unconditionally and lay down their arms,” he said, calling on anyone who “truly wishes to see change” to echo his demand.
Days ago, Israeli forces uncovered weapons and explosives in a clinic of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), he reported. Meanwhile, Israel has facilitated humanitarian aid, despite Hamas’ effort to embed itself among medical staff and patients. Israel and its humanitarian partners have “flooded” Gaza with humanitarian aid. The Council, he insisted, is missing the real issue: that Hamas has hijacked aid and “weaponized” the humanitarian situation. He therefore envisioned a “future Gaza, one in which aid reaches those it is intended for; where humanitarian agencies are not fronts for terrorists; and where people in Gaza can live without fear of Hamas.” This vision cannot be realized with Hamas in power.”
As Council members took the floor, the representative of Algeria, who requested the meeting, was among many speakers expressing alarm about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, pointing out that, as the international community celebrates World Food Day today, long-suffering Palestinians in Gaza are struggling to find food. The response of the Israeli occupying Power to the provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, as well as Council resolutions, “has been nothing short of disdainful,” he said, noting its closure of crossing points, increased restrictions to access, and the “immoral use of starvation as a warfare”. Israeli occupying authorities are “trampling upon the very essence of human decency”, he said, urging decisive Council action on the matter on which “the lives of countless civilians hang in the balance”.
“We must not allow the shredding of the moral and legal thread that holds our Organization together,” urged Guyana’s delegate, appealing to the Council to determine how to implement the orders of the International Court of Justice, and to “agree to pull the plug and stand up for Palestinians”. Echoing calls for Council unity, including from Slovenia’s representative, she stressed: “When legally binding resolutions and countless appeals to conscience and morality fail to change behaviour, the hand of justice must be applied.”
Drawing attention to illegal settler expansion on Palestinian land, the United Kingdom’s delegate called on the Israeli Government to take action to crack down on settler violence, adding that her Government announced yesterday further sanctions against three illegal settler outposts and four organizations to bring accountability to those who perpetrate heinous human rights abuses against Palestinians.
Meanwhile, France’s representative urged Israel to cease projects aiming to criminalize UNRWA’s activities and prevent the Agency from operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, a call also made by the representatives of Malta and Mauritania, who spoke for the Arab Group. Voicing support for a reformed Palestinian Authority, he further called on Israel to stop hindering the transfer of revenues to the Palestinian Authority.
For her part, the United States’ delegate stressed that “Israel has a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields.” Her Government has made clear to the Israeli Government at the highest levels that it must do more to address the intolerable and catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “A ‘policy of starvation’ in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and U.S. law,” she emphasized, noting that the Israeli Government has said that this is not their policy. “We will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement,” she added.
Countering that, the Russian Federation’s delegate called out the United States for its provision of military aid to Israel. China’s representative also pointed to reports that Washington, D.C., since October 2023, has provided Israel with more than $17 billion in military aid. The Council must revitalize and safeguard the prospects for a two-State solution, he stressed – a point also underscored by the representative of Switzerland, Council President for October, who spoke in her national capacity.
The speaker for the Republic of Korea, alongside Sierra Leone, were among many underscoring the need for a ceasefire, with the former stating: “We must recognize and underscore that the current IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] strategy cannot guarantee the short- and long-term security of Israel.” Traumatizing and brutalizing entire generations of Palestinians in Gaza will only exacerbate deep-rooted resentment and hatred, laying the ground for more violence and tragedy in the future, he warned, urging all parties, especially Israel, to recalibrate toward peace.
Among other speakers who urged implementation of Security Council resolution 2735 (2024) – the three-phase ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, put forth by the United States – was Ecuador’s representative, who emphasized that political will, not merely expressions of support, are needed.
“Only a ceasefire can end this humanitarian catastrophe”, Japan’s representative stated. The deal outlined in that resolution would allow for the release of all hostages, immediate ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians at scale. “It has been on the table for months,” he said. Echoing Mozambique’s call for intensified diplomatic efforts, he expressed hope that the tireless mediation of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar will persuade the parties to finally accept and implement it immediately.
