By EDITH M. LEDERER (Associated Press)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the United Nations company for Palestinian refugees advised a U.N. emergency assembly Monday “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” accusing Israel of “collective punishment” of Palestinians and the pressured displacement of civilians.
Philippe Lazzarini warned {that a} additional breakdown of civil order after the company’s warehouses had been damaged into by Palestinians looking for meals and different assist “will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest U.N. agency in Gaza to continue operating.”
Briefings to the Security Council by Lazzarini, the pinnacle of the U.N. youngsters’s company UNICEF and a senior U.N. humanitarian official painted a dire image of the humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza 23 days after Hamas’ shock Oct. 7 assaults in Israel, and its ongoing retaliatory army motion aimed toward “obliterating” the group, which controls Gaza. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
According to the most recent figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, greater than 8,300 individuals have been killed — 66% of them girls and youngsters — and tens of 1000’s injured, the U.N. humanitarian workplace stated.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell that toll contains over 3,400 youngsters killed and greater than 6,300 injured. “This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day — a number which should shake each of us to our core,” she stated.
Lazzarini stated: “This surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.” And he pressured, “This cannot be ‘collateral damage.’”
Many audio system on the council assembly denounced Hamas’ Oct. 7 shock assaults on Israel that killed over 1,400 individuals, and urged the discharge of some 230 hostages taken to Gaza by the terrorists. But just about each speaker additionally pressured that Israel is obligated underneath worldwide humanitarian regulation to guard civilians and their necessities for all times together with hospitals, faculties and different infrastructure — and Israel was criticized for chopping off meals, water, gasoline and drugs to Gaza and chopping communications for a number of days.
Lazzarini stated “the handful of convoys” allowed into Gaza by the Rafah crossing from Egypt in current days “is nothing compared to the needs of over 2 million people trapped in Gaza.”
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail,” he stated, “unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs.”
The commissioner-general of the U.N. company often called UNRWA stated there isn’t any secure place wherever in Gaza, warning that fundamental providers are crumbling, drugs, meals, water and gasoline are operating out, and the streets “have started overflowing with sewage, which will cause a massive health hazard very soon.”
UNICEF oversees water and sanitation points for the U.N., and Russell warned that “the lack of clean water and safe sanitation is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe.”
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the divided Security Council — which has rejected 4 resolutions that will have responded to the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults and the continued warfare — to come back collectively, saying “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day.”
Stressing that every one harmless civilians have to be protected, she stated the council should name “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected.” She reiterated President Joe Biden’s requires humanitarian pauses to get hostages out and permit assist in, and for secure passage for civilians.
“That means Hamas must not use Palestinians as human shields — an act of unthinkable cruelty and a violation of the law of war,” the U.S. ambassador stated, “and that means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.”
In an indication of accelerating U.S. concern on the escalating Palestinian demise toll, Thomas-Greenfield advised the council Biden reiterated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday “that while Israel has the right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism, it must do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law.”
“The fact that Hamas operates within and under the cover of civilians areas creates an added burden for Israel, but it does not lessen its responsibility to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians,” she pressured.
Following the rejection of the 4 resolutions within the 15-member Security Council — one vetoed by the U.S., one vetoed by Russia and China, and two for failing to get the minimal 9 “yes” votes — Arab nations went to the U.N. General Assembly final Friday the place there aren’t any vetoes.
The 193-member world physique adopted a decision calling for humanitarian truces resulting in a cessation of hostilities by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. Now, the ten elected members within the 15-member Security Council try once more to barter a decision that gained’t be rejected. While council resolutions are legally binding, meeting resolutions aren’t although they’re an vital barometer of world opinion.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan was sharply important of the council’s failure to sentence Hamas’ assaults and requested members: “Why are the humanitarian needs of Gazans, the sole issue, the sole issue you are focused on?”
Recalling his grandfather who survived Nazi demise camps however whose his spouse and 7 youngsters perished within the Auschwitz gasoline chamber, Erdan advised the council he’ll put on a yellow star — simply as Hitler made his grandfather and different Jews put on throughout World War II — “until you condemn the atrocities of Hamas and demand the immediate release of our hostages.”
The ambassador then put a big six-pointed yellow star of David saying “Never Again” on his go well with jacket, as did different Israeli diplomats sitting behind him, and stated: “We walk with the yellow star as a symbol of pride, a reminder that we swore to fight back to defend ourselves. Never again is now.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, additionally urged the Security Council to observe the General Assembly, finish its paralysis, and demand “an end to this bloodshed, which constitutes an affront to humanity, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and a clear and imminent danger for regional and international peace and security.”
“Save those who still can be saved and bury in a dignified manner those who have perished,” Mansour stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”