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UN chief warns Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deteriorating to ‘beyond imagination’
The United Nations secretary-general has given his remarks at the quarterly UN Security Council open debate on the Middle East, including on the situation in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.
Here is a summary of the key points that Antonio Guterres made:
- Israeli strikes have killed about 2,000 Palestinians since March 18, with Gaza’s humanitarian situation deteriorating “beyond imagination”.
- The complete blockade of food, fuel, and medicine into Gaza has deprived more than two million people of lifesaving relief.
- Gaza must remain an “integral part of a future Palestinian state”.
- Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, settlement expansion, and forcible displacement are “dramatically altering demographic and geographic realities”.
- Illegal Israeli settler violence continues “at alarmingly high levels”, with entire Palestinian communities facing “repeated assaults and destruction, sometimes abetted by Israeli soldiers”.
- The “promise of a two-state solution is at risk of dwindling to the point of disappearance”.
- The ceasefire and territorial integrity of Lebanon “must be respected”.
Guterres warns time running out for two-state solution
This speech was very much focused on the occupied Palestinian territory. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was laying out that he believes we are at a very historic moment. He was really sending a message to the international community that they need to step up now more than ever, to stop the impunity and the continued Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
I think that was really the sense I got – a real sense of urgency in his speech, saying “we are past the stage of ticking boxes – the clock is ticking. The two-state solution is near a point of no return.”
He was clearly laying out that action needs to be taken and needs to be taken now, collectively by the international community.
