S/PV.9987 Security Council

In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the following briefers to participate in this meeting: Mr. Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator; Ms. Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator; Ms. Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children International; and Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky. I propose that the Council invite the Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the United Nations to participate in the meeting, in accordance with the provisional rules of procedure and the previous practice in this regard. There being no objection, it is so decided. In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representative of Israel to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I give the floor to Mr. Alakbarov. Mr. Alakbarov: Today the world looks on in horror as the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory continues to deteriorate to levels not seen in recent history. More than 22 months into the hostilities, Gaza is sinking deeper into disaster, marked by rapidly mounting civilian casualties, mass displacement and now famine. The hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups continue to languish in appalling conditions. Meanwhile, the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is also facing an unprecedented crisis. The relentless expansion of settlements, demolitions and intensifying violence continue to undermine any prospect for peace. The choice could not be clearer: continue the current path of perpetual conflict, entrenching the occupation, or recommit to a political process that will resolve the conflict, end the occupation and realize a two-State solution. Tragically, there is no end in sight to the conflict in Gaza. Despite a renewed push by the mediators to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal, a breakthrough remains elusive. Israeli strikes have intensified throughout Gaza, hitting the tents of internally displaced persons, schools, hospitals and residential buildings. The human toll of these hostilities has been staggering. Since 23 July, at least 2,553 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Some 271 were reportedly killed while attempting to collect aid, including in the vicinity of militarized distribution sites. Palestinian armed groups also continued to target the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and sporadically launch rockets towards Israel. Journalists continue to be targeted, with more than 240 journalists having been killed in Gaza since the conflict began. On 10 August, an Israeli air strike hit a tent used by journalists in Gaza City, killing six journalists. The IDF said that they were targeting Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, who they said was the head of a Hamas cell. On 25 August, Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis killed at least 20 Palestinian civilians, including medical personnel and journalists. I reiterate the Secretary-General’s call for an independent and impartial investigation into these killings. According to Israeli sources, 50 hostages, including one woman, are still being held captive by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. Twenty- eight of them are believed to be deceased. While visiting affected communities in Israel, I saw the shattered homes of Nir Oz, where one in four residents was either murdered or abducted on 7 October 2023. I met survivors who carry unbearable loss and trauma. I acknowledge the presence today of Ilana Gritzewsky, who will speak today about her experience as a survivor of Hamas captivity, and I pay tribute to her immense courage and fortitude. I have also met with the family members of other hostages held by Hamas, including Evyatar David, whose brother briefed the Council recently (see S/PV.9972). In my meetings, I could see unimaginable pain in their eyes. I was also impressed by their remarkable strength. The videos released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad depicting emaciated Israeli hostages are deeply disturbing. The ill-treatment and abuse of hostages constitute a blatant violation of international law. Hostages must be treated with dignity and allowed to receive visits and assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Unthinkably, Gaza’s population is now facing yet another deadly escalation. On 8 August, the Israeli Government announced its decision to take over Gaza City. The resulting military operation is ongoing as we speak. For a population already struggling to survive, Palestinians in Gaza are now seeing their worst fears becoming reality in front of their eyes. Already, 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip lies within Israeli military zones. Expanded military operations in Gaza City will have catastrophic consequences, including the displacement of hundreds of thousands. I am deeply alarmed by the findings of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, confirming that famine is engulfing the Gaza Governorate. Ending famine is a race against time. It will require a dramatic increase in the quantity and quality of food entering Gaza. It will also require restoring the basic systems, such as water and sanitation, health services and food production — all that is needed to sustain human life. My colleague, Assistant Secretary-General Msuya, will cover the IPC findings in more detail in her briefing. Recent steps by Israel, including the 27 July announcement of a daily pause in operations in specific areas of western Gaza and its approval on 5 August of a mechanism for the controlled entry of commercial goods, have increased the supply of essential items to Gaza. Israeli authorities have also approved the entry of a more diverse array of supplies, including animal feed material, starting this week. But let us be clear: these steps are nowhere near sufficient to address the vast scale of needs. The lack of law and order also presents a significant obstacle to humanitarian operations. The unbearable conditions in Gaza have led to looting by desperate civilians, while looting by organized groups also continues to undermine relief efforts. It is imperative to restore the required conditions for functional community- based distribution systems to reach the most vulnerable. Israel’s imposition of new requirements on international non-governmental organization registration is further constraining the humanitarian response. With the deadline looming to meet the new requirements, many international non-governmental organizations operating in Gaza may be forced to cease their activities, leaving vulnerable communities without essential support. I urge the Government to rescind the new registration For the sake of humankind, I urge all sides to put an end to this brutal war immediately. The only way to stop the immense and indescribable human suffering is through a full, immediate and permanent ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages. The situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continues to spiral dangerously downward. The territory envisaged for the future Palestinian State is shrinking, while a one-State reality of unlawful occupation and perpetual violence is rapidly advancing. During the reporting period, Israeli security forces continued operations in northern cities and refugee camps. More than 32,000 residents of three camps remain displaced as a result of these ongoing operations. They must be able to return to their homes and services, including those of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which must be restored. In total, in the West Bank, nine Palestinians, including four children, were killed by the Israeli security forces during the reporting period. Attacks by Israeli settlers have continued, often in the presence of Israeli forces, resulting in three Palestinians killed, damage to Palestinian property and the displacement of Palestinian families. Attacks by Palestinians against Israelis have also continued, with no fatalities reported in the past month. On 28 July, Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen was shot and killed by a settler in Masafer Yatta, as his 5-year-old son Watan stood by, witnessing his father’s death. When visiting the family, I held Watan in my arms and thought about the enormous tragedy of his future life, without a father and with his community facing the constant threat of violence and displacement. No child should face such horror. The perpetrators of settler violence must be held to account. Palestinians must be able to live safely on their land. Since 7 October 2023, settler attacks have escalated in frequency and have become more violent and deadly. These attacks have increasingly led to forced displacement. Frequently, settlers then move into areas that have been fully vacated and establish outposts, with the acquiescence of the Israeli authorities. This leads to further settlement expansion and the consolidation of Israeli control. Corresponding Government decisions are fast-tracking settlement expansion, including in the most highly strategic areas. On 20 August, the Israeli Higher Planning Committee approved a plan for the construction of more than 3,400 housing units in the E1 area. If implemented, the move would effectively sever the connection between the northern and southern West Bank. It would therefore undermine the possibility of a viable and contiguous Palestinian State. I urge Israel to immediately cease any steps towards construction in the E1 area and recall that any establishment of settlements violates international law. Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities have continued to demolish Palestinian-owned structures, leading to the displacement of 175 Palestinians, including 70 children. These moves align with broader efforts to entrench control over the West Bank, including last month’s decision by the Israeli Knesset to adopt a non-binding and symbolic motion calling for the application of Israeli sovereignty across all settlements in the occupied West Bank. Alongside these developments, the Palestinian Authority continues to face an unprecedented economic crisis. According to the Palestinian Authority, since May, Israel has not transferred any clearance revenue collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Overall, more than $2 billion of Palestinian clearance revenues are being withheld by Israel. The correspondent banking relationship with Israel is under constant threat, and the accumulation of excess shekels in Palestinian banks has escalated into a systemic crisis. All this presents a grave threat to the Palestinian The developments I have described are taking place in a volatile regional context, with violence and tensions continuing to plague the Middle East. This week alone saw another exchange of fire between the Houthis in Yemen and Israel, continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon and IDF incursions into Syria. I welcome the ongoing diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and urge the implementation of all relevant United Nations resolutions and existing agreements. This alarming picture compels us to act with determination to reverse the present trajectory, starting with a ceasefire and the release of all hostages. What is needed now is bold action to resolve the conflict, end the occupation and re-establish a political horizon. In that regard, I welcome the convening of the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution co-chaired by France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The message from the international community is clear: the two- State solution remains the only viable path towards a just and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We must work collectively now to advance practical steps, including through our engagements at the upcoming General Assembly high- level week in September. With Gaza immersed in a situation so horrendous that it defies basic humanity and with the West Bank facing genuine threats to its long-term existence, we can no longer wait.

I thank Mr. Alakbarov for his briefing. I now give the floor to Ms. Msuya. Ms. Msuya: As I brief today, I am reminded of the previous messages we have delivered to the Security Council over the past months, cautioning that famine — then a worst-case scenario  — was becoming increasingly likely. On 22 August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee confirmed that famine is now occurring in Gaza Governorate and is projected to expand further to Dayr al-Balah and Khan Yunis by the end of September. Allow me to share some numbers. More than half a million people currently face starvation, destitution and death. By the end of September, that number could exceed 640,000. Approximately 1 million people are in “emergency” IPC phase 4. And more than 390,000 are in “crisis” IPC phase 3. Virtually no one in Gaza is untouched by hunger. At least 132,000 children under the age of 5 are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition between now and mid-2026. The number of those at risk of death among them has now tripled to more than 43,000. For pregnant and breastfeeding women, that number is predicted to surge from 17,000 to 55,000. My colleague from Save the Children will speak in greater depth on this. The suffering of children remains one of the most heartbreaking dimensions of this crisis. Behind these stark numbers are human lives — daughters, sons, mothers and fathers — futures cut short and communities scarred. The Famine Review Committee has been called five times to assess food security and nutrition in Gaza. We sounded the alarm after each of those assessments. We also reported to the Council twice under resolution 2417 (2018) on conflict and hunger — first, in February 2024 (see S/PV.9560) and again in June this year. Let us be clear: this famine is not a product of drought or some form of natural disaster. It is a created catastrophe — the result of a conflict that has caused massive civilian deaths, injuries, destruction and forced displacement. Last month, more than 100 Palestinians, on average, were killed every day, according to estimates by Gaza’s Ministry of Health — nearly twice the average daily toll recorded in May. In the same period, some 800,000 people were newly displaced, pushed into overcrowded areas that lack shelter and other essentials. We have seen an uptick in aid entering Gaza over the past weeks, including in the number of trucks and fuel tankers. During this time, the United Nations and our partners have brought in at least 12,000 metric tons of wheat flour, supported 80 kitchens serving 400,000 meals daily, brought in therapeutic food for 30,000 malnourished children for one month, delivered truckloads of vital medical supplies, including blood units, and ensured that clean water reached more than 1,000 locations, alongside hygiene kit distribution and network repairs. Limited commercial traffic has also resumed in the past weeks. This has helped to bring down prices of key commodities, although they remain elevated and largely out of reach for much of the population. And after a long pause, supplies of animal fodder have resumed over the past several days. These are important developments, but they will neither reverse famine nor stop it in its tracks. To meet the needs of 2.1 million starving and hungry people, we need much, much more. We must bring in and deliver greater volumes of life-saving assistance. We need the restrictions on essential items to be lifted, and we need a halt to the delays and denials that undermine our work every day. I would like to thank Mr. Alakbarov for his leadership as Humanitarian Coordinator on the ground, in particular for his ongoing engagements to address the serious constraints we are facing. International humanitarian law is a vital safeguard against hunger in conflict. It prohibits the use of the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and forbids attacks on objects essential to civilian survival, such as food, water and agricultural infrastructure. It demands that the parties take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects throughout their military operations. It demands that humanitarian personnel and assets be protected at all times and that the provision of unimpeded humanitarian relief be facilitated. There is still time to act. Before I close, we must not forget the deterioration in the West Bank where war- like military operations, settler violence and discriminatory policies are deepening humanitarian needs and increasing civilian vulnerability. The recent approval of more than 3,000 settler housing units under the E1 plan further threatens to fragment the West Bank and places 18 Bedouin communities, representing more than 3,500 people, at risk of forced displacement, compromising their access to critical services. Failure to act now will have irreversible consequences. The Council and all Member States must immediately work to ensure: first, an immediate, sustained cessation of hostilities in Gaza to prevent further loss of life and to stop famine from expanding; secondly, the release of all hostages, immediately and unconditionally; thirdly, the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure, including that which is essential for survival and the functioning of food, health and water, sanitation and hygiene systems; fourthly, safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access through all entry points and to all people in need across the Gaza Strip — this includes the delivery of immediate large-scale, multisectoral humanitarian assistance throughout the Strip, including items necessary for survival, such as food and nutrition supplies, medicine, water and shelter, fuel and others; fifthly, the restoration of commercial flows of essential goods at scale, market systems, essential services and local food production.

I thank Ms. Msuya for her briefing. I now give the floor to Ms. Ashing. Ms. Ashing: The Gaza famine is here. It is an engineered famine, a predicted famine, a human-made famine. As we speak, children in Gaza are systematically being starved to death. This is a deliberate policy. This is starvation as a method of war in its starkest terms. Save the Children’s clinics in Gaza are overwhelmed by need — every bench packed with malnourished children and their mothers. Yet our clinics are almost silent now. Children do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony. They lie there emaciated, quite literally wasting away, their tiny bodies overcome by hunger and disease. The medical and specialized nutrition supplies they need are all but used up. Without these, malnourished children will die. A few kilometres away, a sea of supplies stands ready  — thousands upon thousands of truckloads of life-saving items, all blocked. The Government of Israel could end this famine tonight if it chose to end its deliberate obstruction and let humanitarians do our work. Instead, there are reports of escalations in Israeli military activity in Gaza City — more attacks on hospitals, more killing. At our Child-Friendly Spaces, children draw what we call wishing clouds so that they can imagine a better future. In Gaza, children used to wish for school or peace or to see their friends again. Once the total siege began in March, children would increasingly tell us they wished for food, for bread. These past few weeks, more and more children have shared that they wish to be dead. One child wrote: “I wish I was in heaven, where my mother is. In heaven, there is love. There is food and water”. Children are being killed in Gaza by bombs, bullets and now starvation — an entire generation at risk of being wiped out. Every decision maker in every capital in the world and everyone in this Chamber has a legal and moral responsibility to act to stop these atrocities. Famine means that there are no more breaking points and no more alarm bells. It is the worst-case scenario. We told members that this was coming, loudly and clearly. It has been constructed by design for two years. Famine is a technical term. It is determined by an independent, globally respected body, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). When there is not enough food, children become acutely malnourished, and then they die, slowly and painfully. This, in simple terms, is what famine is. By measuring a child’s weight relative to their height and their upper arm to assess the amount of body fat and muscle they have left, we can objectively measure in real time the slow descent into the horror of starvation. The lives of at least 132,000 children under the age of 5 in Gaza are now at risk of acute malnutrition. This number has doubled since May. Every other indicator confirms the IPC’s assessment. In the first two weeks of August, well over half of pregnant women and new mothers screened at Save the Children’s clinics were malnourished — seven times higher than before the siege began in March. We have since run out of the supplement designed to prevent pregnant women and new mothers becoming malnourished. This is the predictable result of a policy of a sustained siege on food, medicine and fuel. This month, more than 100 aid organizations called for an end to the weaponization of aid in Gaza. These non-governmental organizations have worked in the occupied Palestinian territory for decades and are trusted and experienced. The Israeli authorities have rejected requests from dozens of non-governmental organizations to bring in life-saving goods to Gaza and have tied continued operations to new registration rules. These registration rules require impartial Children in Gaza do not need so-called creative solutions, not airdrops that deliver almost no aid while occasionally killing civilians, nor the creation of inhumane, militarized distribution systems whereby hundreds of civilians have been killed seeking food, forcing those who survive to choose between being maimed and humiliated, collecting scraps of food, or watching their loved ones waste away before their eyes. Families we support increasingly refer to these distribution points as the jaw of death. Instead, children in Gaza need Member States to take action. The endless violence, cruel and illegal siege, block on the United Nations-led humanitarian system, mass killing of humanitarian workers, ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the obstruction and threats of deregistration of NGOs are driving the humanitarian catastrophe, which in turn is causing famine. Independent entities mandated to conclude and determine whether atrocity crimes and war crimes are taking place have done so. In addition, grave violations against children are being committed at an unprecedented rate across the occupied Palestinian territory, according to the Secretary-General’s annual reports. The overwhelming majority are perpetrated against Palestinian children, though there are also violations against Israeli children, including cases of children being taken hostage. Every child has a right to survival, to safety and to a future. Any violation is a breach too far. Violence in the West Bank has been escalating at an alarming rate. Children face home demolitions, displacement, harassment and intimidation by Israeli forces and settlers, including on their way to and during school. The mental health toll this has on their still- forming minds is devastating. Save the Children is particularly alarmed by the detention of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system, which is a long-standing child rights crisis. No child should ever come into contact with a military court, yet Palestinian children are the only ones in the world systematically prosecuted in military courts. These courts do not meet international juvenile justice standards. It is an abusive and inhumane system, in which children consistently report being physically, emotionally and sexually abused, humiliated and starved. Children held in this system must be released immediately to prevent further harm and protect them from practices that could amount to torture. The military detention of Palestinian children must end. There must be accountability for all crimes committed against children, civilians and hostages. Children in Gaza urgently need the following: an immediate and definitive ceasefire and the release of all children deprived of their liberty, including hostages and children held in military detention. The Government of Israel must lift the siege and let the aid flow. The only way to achieve this is through unimpeded United Nations-led coordination. Member States must take action, support accountability mechanisms, end arms transfers, refuse to fund militarized aid schemes and not risk complicity in atrocities. I would like to conclude by briefly explaining what malnourishment and starvation mean for a child. After one day without food, children begin to change. They suffer a loss of energy and concentration and become upset. After several days without nourishment, their bodies start to degrade. Their bodies begin consuming their own fat to survive. They lose their appetite and become unable to focus. After two weeks, the process accelerates, and their small bodies rapidly deteriorate. Their heart, liver and kidneys weaken, and infections spread with ease as their immune Those who do get urgent nutrition and medical support often grow up stunted. A stunted child will likely have impaired cognitive development, a weakened immune system and an increased risk of chronic diseases. Babies born to malnourished mothers are likely to be forever smaller themselves. Many effects of famine cannot be reversed. The death and loss, as well as the physical and mental harm, will last lifetimes and even generations. In the words of a nutrition nurse working in one of our silent clinics, “Hunger is written on the bodies of our children, a constant reminder that survival itself has become uncertain in Gaza.” For almost two years, the international community has failed to protect Palestinian children. Until the international community chooses to act, this is the fate they are guaranteeing for a generation of children in Gaza. Inaction is a choice. Indecision is complicity. Children have reached their breaking point. Where is the Council’s?

I thank Ms. Ashing for her briefing. I now give the floor to Ms. Gritzewsky.

I am here today before the Security Council, not only to raise my voice, but also for those who cannot be here today — the hostages still being held captive, those who were brutally assassinated and silenced forever. My name is Ilana Gritzewsky. I was born in Mexico into a Jewish family deeply connected to the Jewish people in Israel. My home was always full of traditions and customs within a community that loves Israel. One of my childhood memories is learning about human rights, equality and the role played by various global organizations, such as the United Nations, UNICEF and the Red Cross. When I was in school, I participated in fundraising drives, always proudly promoting the values that I had learned from these institutions. Yet now I am here, and I ask myself: where were these organizations when I needed them most? (spoke in English) When I was 16, I made Aliyah to Israel by myself. That decision was driven by my need to feel safe — safe in a country free of dangers from delinquents and cartels, a country where I can feel connected to my people and its culture and have a future. Leaving everything behind was not easy, but I knew I was on the right path. In Nir Oz, a kibbutz near the border with Gaza, I built a home with my partner, Matan Zangauker. Our life was simple and ordinary, full of plans. I own a bakery and became the manager of a greenhouse, until 7 October 2023 shattered everything. At 6.30 a.m., my life changed forever. That morning, Matan and I were sleeping at home, surrounded by everything we loved. Within minutes, terror was upon us. We woke up to sirens, like every other time before. We never imagined that this time it was not just sirens. It was an attack by armed, funded and violent terrorists who entered our home with the intention of destroying everything dear to us. At first, we heard gunshots and shouts in Arabic and immediately realized that hell was upon us. We locked ourselves in the safe room, Matan holding the door with all his might, while I tried to calm our dog, Nuni, and keep him quiet. But we already knew they were going house to house in our kibbutz, Nir Oz, looking to kill, kidnap and rape. It was our turn. They broke into my house, shooting in every direction and breaking everything, until Matan could no longer hold the door of the safe room. The terrorists beat me, humiliated me, touched me all over, threw me onto a motorcycle and took me to Gaza. I saw Nir Oz — the place where we had built our life — turned to ash. On the way to Gaza, when they started to touch me and sexually abuse me, I passed out. Physically and mentally, I could not hold on anymore. I guess my body preferred to shut down. They kept beating me, because to them I was a prize. I woke up in a sunlit house, lying half-naked on rocks, surrounded by Hamas terrorists. I had to beg not to be raped. I told them I was on my period. At first, they did not understand whether I was on my period or pregnant. Nevertheless, that made them leave me alone. They threw a hijab and a dress at me and ordered me to get dressed. I did not know exactly what had been done to my body in those last minutes while I was in that condition. But my soul already knew: nothing would ever be the same. I was suffering from a fractured jaw, a broken pelvis, ear damage from an explosion and burns on my leg. In the first days, many people came to see me and play mind games. One of them fixated on me. He told me that I would never leave, that I was beautiful, and that we would marry and have children. Even if there were a deal, I would not be released. He handed me his gun, told me to play with it and stole all my jewellery. The next day, around noon, they brought me another hostage from Nir Oz. That gave me strength. I realized I was not alone. We looked out for each other. After a week, our guards told us that the Israel Defense Forces were going to attack the house, so we needed to move to a different place. I found myself walking through Gaza’s streets, holding the terrorist’s hand, as if I were his wife. When we arrived at the other apartment, all the neighbours came out to see the new prize. They knew exactly who we were. We stayed there for only a day and moved again. This time, they took us to a dirty house, full of cockroaches. We slept on the floor on a thin mattress that was not really a mattress. We spent more than 14 days there with barely any food, almost no water, constant psychological terror and no basic humanitarian necessities, such as medicine, showers or hygiene products. In 55 days of captivity, I lost 12 kilograms — approximately 24 pounds. They did not give me any medicine. No doctor came to see me, even though I told them I was suffering from colitis and anemia. The terrorists dictated everything — when we could talk, when we could go to the bathroom and when we could get up. They woke us in the middle of the night for cruel interrogation. From the moment I was captured, the guards were with me all the time. They did not wear Hamas uniforms. They dressed like civilians. They told me that one of them was a math teacher and another was a lawyer. For 50 days, they made me sure that I could not escape. They told us all the time that we would be held hostage for 5 or even 10 years. When it was time to eat, they took a lot of food to their room. They had meat, rice and vegetables. At the same time, they left us with our meal, which sometimes consisted of as few as 10 chickpeas or a piece of dry flatbread, which was not always well cooked. About four days before my release, someone knocked on the door. We They transferred me to a hospital. Now I know it was Nasser Hospital. They took us through the back entrance and walked us past all the civilians. In the hospital, there was an area that was closed off and used only by Hamas, with an armed guard. They locked us in a room where we met the third hostage. The next morning, around 10 a.m., they told us again that we were going home. They moved us to another room and made me undress to check that I had no surveillance device on me. Later, they briefed us, checked us, gave us supplies and told us to get into a car waiting outside. But instead of taking us to freedom, they took us to a tunnel. There, we saw more hostages, some of whom were my friends from kibbutz Nir Oz. I saw Eitan Horn and David Cunio there, who still remain in the hands of Hamas. It was only then, in the tunnels, after more than 50 days, that I found out that my boyfriend, Matan, was also a hostage, just a short distance away. But I could not reach him. I begged the terrorists to let me see him. They said “later”. They made me do different things, such as cleaning the kitchen, to make me believe that afterwards I would be allowed to see him. But that “later” never came, and I did not get to see Matan. The next day, they told me I was leaving. I refused — I wanted to see Matan. I knew that if I left, my soul would remain in Gaza. But they did not let me stay, so I left with a hole in my heart. I promised my friends I would do everything in my power to bring them home, and now I am keeping that promise. People see my face and think I am free. But freedom is not a switch you can turn on and off. Trauma does not vanish once you are released. Now, with every siren, every rocket from Iran, Yemen or Gaza, I am thrown back into hell. The difference is I have a safe room. Matan does not — he is still in Gaza. The Council has heard about what Hamas did on 7 October. Women were raped, abused and humiliated, and the world chose silence. Why is our pain treated as less? Why are our histories questioned, denied and erased? I am here not just for myself, but for every woman and man who did not make it home, for every voice that was ignored, for the 50 hostages still in Gaza and for their families. I am calling on human rights groups and everyone who claims to care to stand with us, speak up and demand the truth, because silence is betrayal. Matan, stay strong. Do not lose hope. Your mom, sister, our dog, Noni, and I are all waiting for you. (spoke in Spanish) I am also here today as a Mexican woman, because that is where I was born, where the cartels kill and torture people. We call them what they are: criminals, terrorists, wrongdoers. The world does not hesitate to condemn them. So I wonder: why are Hamas — who burn children alive, rape women, abuse and then mutilate bodies and kidnap children and adults — not condemned in the same way? Why is Hamas treated differently? Why is it not considered the terrorist group that it is? Why are Jewish victims questioned? And why are our accounts questioned when others are immediately believed? This is a double standard. And it is not just hypocrisy; it is betrayal. (spoke in English) I ask the members of the Council to not turn away, to not look for excuses, to not allow political divisions to silence the voices of victims and rather to use their influence, their power and their responsibility to demand the unconditional release of every hostage — not tomorrow, not in some distant future, but now. We need to make a deal. People in Israel want this war to end. Bring them home. Bring Matan I was released after 55 days, but my soul remains in captivity with Matan and all the hostages. Until they return, none of us is truly free.

I thank Ms. Gritzewsky for her statement. I now give the floor to those Council members who wish to make statements.

I would also like to thank Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov, Assistant Secretary-General Joyce Msuya and Ms. Inger Ashing of Save the Children International for their briefings. I would like to thank Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky in particular for her courage and sobering testimony, and I do sincerely hope for the swift and safe return of her partner, Matan. Earlier this week, the entire world witnessed yet another killing of medical staff and journalists in attacks by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) directly targeting a hospital. As Secretary-General Guterres pointed out, “These latest horrific killings highlight the extreme risks that medical personnel and journalists face” in Gaza. We are gravely concerned about the repeated pattern of attacks and the incessant killing of civilians, medical staff and journalists. We note the IDF’s confirmation of the strikes and its intention to launch an immediate inquiry. However, a mere inquiry is not enough. Since the war broke out, we have witnessed a series of investigations resulting in no concrete measures. We therefore call for transparent and independent investigations into all possible violations of international humanitarian law, as well as for full accountability for all violators. Far too many innocent people have been killed in this war sparked by the terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s massive military attacks. Another alarm was sounded by recent media reports that Israel’s classified military database identified less than 20 per cent of the fatalities in Gaza as members of Hamas and other militant groups. Yet even before these reports, we already knew, through numerous statistics, daily reports, testimonies and video clips, that scores of innocent civilians, including women, children and aid seekers, are being killed every single day. We therefore reiterate our strong call for the protection of civilians by all parties in accordance with international humanitarian law. Humanitarian workers, medical staff and journalists must be protected. And we call on Israel to allow international journalists to enter Gaza and report back with accuracy what is happening there. We are also deeply dismayed by the recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report confirming the famine already happening in Gaza. As Under- Secretary-General Tom Fletcher mentioned, it is unconscionable that a man-made famine is happening now, in the twenty-first century, despite so many warning signs. We call on Israel to immediately lift all restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid. We are aware of enhanced efforts to expand the delivery of aid inside Gaza, including airdrops. Yet, as the United Nations repeatedly pointed out, the ceasefire earlier this year proved that the dignified distribution of aid on the ground by the United Nations and its partners is the most efficient way. Having said that, we reaffirm our strong support for the United Nations humanitarian system and relevant agencies, including the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. We are all aware of the best way to protect civilians and to flood Gaza with aid: an immediate ceasefire and release of hostages. Expanding military operations, including an attempt to take control of Gaza City, will only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis While our attention is mainly focused on the horrific tragedy in Gaza, we must not lose sight of the worsening situation in the West Bank. The decision by the Israeli Government to resume the construction of the E1 settlement is of major concern. It will not only hamper the prospects of the two-State solution by effectively severing the contiguity of the West Bank but will also deepen the instability and insecurity in Israel and Palestine, as well as in the wider region. Korea has consistently supported the two-State solution, as the sole viable path forward. The advancement of this project will be an existential threat to this aspiration. We thus call on the Israeli Government to reverse its decision. Any other unilateral actions that are in violation of resolution 2334 (2016), including settler violence, the demolition of homes, the displacement of Palestinian civilians and provocative actions, must also stop. We hope that enhanced efforts by the international community to revive the prospect of the two-State solution will soon pave the way towards a secure future for the Middle East based on harmony and coexistence.

At the outset, we thank Assistant Secretary-General Msuya and Deputy Special Coordinator Alakbarov for their sobering briefings. We listened attentively to Ms. Ashing and Ms. Gritzewsky, who brought to the Council the perspective of human suffering. For Algeria, this is not an abstract debate. Our compass points in one direction and one direction only: only towards morality, legality and empathy  — empathy towards all those who are suffering. We have called, we call and we will continue to call for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, the only condition that can end the agony of Gaza, an agony born from the Israeli occupying Power’s deliberate policy of killing, destruction and annihilation, and a policy shielded by impunity and immunity. Let us be clear: had Israel respected the ceasefire agreement, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, all hostages, all captives and all detainees would have reunited with their families, including Ms. Gritzewsky’s partner, Matan. Today, instead of embraces, there is only mourning and despair. The topic of today’s debate is the Palestinian question, but today I will not speak of the illegal settlement activities that fragment the West Bank into north and south and isolate Jersualem from the West Bank. I will not speak of dispossession and annexation of Palestinian land. I will not speak of inflammatory rhetoric and actions that threaten the sanctity of the Aqsa Mosque. I will not speak of the continued erosion of the two-State solution. I will focus on the suffering in Gaza, which has reached a level of barbarity that defies imagination. As the Secretary-General reminded us, just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: famine — a man-made famine. We have been warning of it. Now, famine is confirmed by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Famine is no longer a fear. It is a reality, and it will expand by September if nothing is done by the international community and by the Security Council. Famine cannot be hidden any more behind manipulated figures and misleading claims of aid. Famine cannot be addressed through restricted access or token and airdrops without impact, airdrops conducted only to soothe the conscience. Famine is the shame that will haunt all — all of us, all who could act and chose silence. Allow me to remind the Council: Yahya al-Najjar, three months old, was starved to death. His mother’s words cut deeper than any statistic: “He survived his last four days only on water infused with anise, because no milk, no baby formula was available”. Yazan Abu Ful, two years old, who is still alive, stands shirtless in the hands of his father. Do members have children? Do members have grandchildren? Imagine being Yazan’s parents, empty with despair, watching the candle of his life diminish while powerless to help. This is the grim reality that the Israeli authorities want to conceal. This is why international journalists are banned from Gaza. This is why Palestinian journalists are deliberately targeted and assassinated — 245 of them have lost their lives. In late August, the Israeli Defense Forces deliberately killed six journalists. They carried nothing but the word and the image, and they raised nothing but their voices. The world, this very Council, did nothing after that crime. And so, the Israeli occupying Power repeated the same pattern. This Monday, the day before yesterday, at Nasser Hospital, five more journalists were killed — assassinated. Among them was Maryam Abu Daqqa, a beautiful young mother. She was 33 years old. Her armour was her press vest, her weapon a camera. A few days before, she wrote a letter on X to her 13-year-old. His name is Ghaith. In this letter, she left words that carry more weight than any official statement: “Ghaith, you are the heart and soul of your mother. When I die, I want you to pray for me, not to cry for me. I want you never never to forget me. I did everything to keep you happy and safe. And when you grow, when you marry and when you have a daughter, name her Maryam after me”. Will the Council persist as a theatre of lamentation, endlessly echoing speeches while Gaza burns for lack of action? The Council must act as a matter of duty — a moral duty, a legal duty. The Council must act to impose a ceasefire and to protect and save innocent lives. It must act to ensure unhindered humanitarian access at scale. It must act to feed the starving and to break the famine. To fail is to be complicit. To delay is to accept shame. To stop a genocide is not an option, it is an obligation.

At the outset, I thank Assistant Secretary-General Msuya and Mr. Alakbarov for their briefings. I also thank Ms. Ashing for her perspective and Save the Children for the work they continue to do under extremely difficult circumstances. I commend Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky for her bravery in sharing her horrific experience with us today. No person should be made to endure such an ordeal, and we remain ready to work with fellow Council members to bring an end to the suffering of all civilians who are experiencing suffering on account of the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The past few weeks have been marked by several extremely troubling developments in the occupied Palestinian territory, further compounding the plight of the Palestinian people and deepening the present conflict. Among those developments was the declaration of famine in the Gaza governorate by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), with the Dayr al-Balah and Khan Yunis governorates projected to experience famine in the coming weeks. The conditions imposed by Israel, including severe restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid throughout Gaza at scale and the void created by systematic dismantling of the humanitarian system in Gaza, have contributed in no small measure to this growing The aggregation of these factors has exacerbated the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, causing a purely man-made famine to take hold. Children are suffering the most, their small bodies wasting away for lack of food and nutrition. Guyana calls on the United Nations, including the Security Council, to exercise its responsibility to protect innocent Palestinian civilians, who are suffering the indignity of dying from starvation. Another element of concern is the fate of professionals operating in Gaza or the denial of their entry into Gaza to render life-saving support. Doctors and other medical personnel have been unable to access visas to enter Israel. Many medical personnel have also been killed and injured in attacks on hospitals. Journalists continue to be fatally attacked, including during Monday’s horrific attack on Nasser Hospital. We condemn these actions in the strongest terms and underscore that humanitarian workers and journalists are protected under international humanitarian law. We therefore call on the Israeli Government to ensure their safety, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of those killed during the hostilities in Gaza, and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice. The situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, also remains a point of grave concern for my delegation. Illegal settlements continue unabated, accompanied by violence, displacement and dispossession. The recent decision to advance the E1 settlement plan represents another grave threat to the two-State solution, specifically the contiguity of the Palestinian State. We are also concerned by the direct attacks on Palestinian livelihoods in the occupied West Bank. We have noted, for example, the 29 documented settler-related attacks between 12 and 18 August, with at least 23 incidents involving damage to Palestinian-owned property. These attacks destroyed nearly 700 trees and vines, mostly olive and grape vines, which were uprooted, cut down or burned, alongside the torching of animal barracks and the vandalism of a water network. What purpose do these actions serve but to further impoverish Palestinians? We call on Israel to abandon its colonial settler policies and practices, which are a source of great oppression to the Palestinian people. Allow me to conclude by reiterating the following appeals. First, we reiterate our call for an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. Secondly, we call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages still held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. The taking of hostages is a war crime, and Guyana condemns such action in the strongest terms. Many families are rightfully distressed over the continued captivity of their loved ones, and the parties to conflict must prioritize the safety and well-being of these individuals. We are equally concerned about the ongoing and arbitrary detention of Palestinians in Israeli jails and call for their release. Thirdly, we call on Israel to lift all restrictions on the entry and delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, to ease the massive suffering of civilians. Finally, we call on fellow members of Security Council to work together to bring a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to offer international protection to Palestinians. A just and comprehensive solution to the conflict must involve Israel’s full withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territory and the implementation of the two-State solution. It is our duty to ensure that this is done. Guyana remains prepared to contribute to these efforts.

I thank Deputy Special Coordinator Alakbarov, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Msuya and Ms. Ashing for their The path to a better future in the Middle East is clear. It starts with freeing Matan and all 50 hostages who remain in captivity nearly two years after 7 October 2023. It means ensuring that Hamas, a barbaric terrorist organization, never controls Gaza again nor poses a security threat to Israel. The United States continues to work tirelessly to accomplish all those objectives, while supporting humanitarian assistance to innocent people in need. We cannot expect peace as long as Hamas is a ruling force in Gaza that is threatening or attacking Israel. It is no coincidence that talks with Hamas fell apart after several countries, including members of the Council, announced their intention to effectively reward Hamas for the massacre by recognizing a Palestinian State, all while hostages are still being held in sub-human conditions. Hamas officials have even said that unilateral recognition is one of the fruits of 7 October. The United States continues to focus on the real and important tasks at hand: not conferences, but serious diplomatic efforts and providing humanitarian assistance in a warzone, where a terrorist organization uses aid as the basis for its terrorist machine. We all recognize that hunger is a real issue in Gaza and that there are significant humanitarian needs which must be met. Addressing those needs is a priority for the United States. However, we can only solve problems with credibility and integrity. Unfortunately, the recent report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) does not pass the test on either. One of the report’s key authors has a lengthy record of bias against Israel, including openly justifying the Houthis’ terrorist attacks on Israeli civilian targets. By his own measure, he ought to have recused himself. This helps to explain why the normal standards were changed for this declaration, raising significant questions. We can spend no shortage of time pontificating and lecturing, but we are here to solve real problems affecting real people, and the only way to do that is with credibility and integrity. President Trump wants to alleviate the suffering the people in Gaza are experiencing at the hands of Hamas and has prioritized getting aid to people in need, while implementing safeguards to prevent Hamas from looting. As of 26 August, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had delivered more than 140 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza — 1.5 million meals just today. United Nations data on the United Nations own deliveries tells a different story. Between 19 May and 25 August of this year, more than 85 per cent of trucks and 62,000 pallets of aid were intercepted in transit in Gaza. The hard truth is that the international community has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into Gaza over the years, while turning a blind eye to the fact that it was subsidizing and facilitating Hamas’ creation of a terrorist stronghold. We will also use this occasion to reject the falsehood that there is a policy of starvation in Gaza. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israel has enabled an unprecedented amount of more than 2 million tons of aid to flow into the Gaza Strip. We are working closely with the Government of Israel to increase the flow of aid without benefiting Hamas and are seeing tangible results. Instead of echoing false narratives, which only embolden Hamas, prolong the war and hurt civilians in Gaza, we urge the United Nations and the rest of the Council to join us in working constructively to deliver aid to civilians that does not benefit Hamas. Rather than accepting mass diversion of aid as a fait accompli, the United Nations, Council members and IPC partners should support other mechanisms, including the GHF. We have also seen the Jordan corridor and the facilitation of commercial deliveries of food and other supplies into Gaza and airdrops by Jordan, the United Arab Emirates We share the same dedication to the hostages underground, starved in tunnels, suffering through Hamas’ captivity. Hamas must immediately free all remaining 50 hostages, living and deceased. The reality is that this war could end today, if Hamas freed all the hostages and surrendered. We urge the Security Council and all members to play a constructive role, call for the immediate release of remaining hostages, hold Hamas to account and demand that it disarm and leave Gaza. We understand that Israel has expressed deep regret for harm to civilians and has already released findings from its investigation into the strikes on Nasser Hospital. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) concluded that six Hamas members — one of whom had participated in the 7 October 2023 attacks — were killed when the IDF struck the site that Hamas was using to monitor troops at the hospital. We note the prompt nature of this investigation and response and call on the Council to condemn the continued use of civilian infrastructure by Hamas. We also acknowledge that a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this Administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region. Finally, the United States welcomes the Government of Lebanon’s decision to task the Lebanese Armed Forces with a plan to bring all weapons under State control by the end of the year. This historic step shows that the Trump Administration continues to work towards peace and stability with our partners in the region. The Lebanese Armed Forces must now act to fully implement the Government’s decision. The United States will do its part to help to forge a new reality in the Middle East alongside Israel and our partners. The Middle East can still be a region of opportunity, innovation, prosperity and peace. We cannot miss this historic opportunity.

I thank Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov and Assistant Secretary-General Joyce Msuya for their sobering briefings. I wish to thank Ms. Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children International, for shedding light on the deeply disturbing plight of children in Gaza. To Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky, I wish to express my deepest sympathy for the horrors she endured and to commend her courage in sharing such a painful experience. Sierra Leone has consistently condemned the heinous attacks of 7 October 2023 and the taking of hostages by Hamas and other armed groups. We reaffirm our strongest condemnation of these acts, which constitute grave breaches of international law. For nearly 20 months of our two-year term on the Security Council, whenever convened to address the Gaza conflict, we have asked ourselves how the situation could possibly become more brutal and inhumane. Each time, we are confronted with new depths of suffering. From the decades-long occupation and blockade of Palestinian territory to the heinous Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, the ongoing plight of hostages and detainees, reported incidents of sexual violence and now famine, the picture is one of mass atrocity crimes unfolding in real time. Distressingly, even international judges and prosecutors seeking accountability have faced threats and sanctions. Taken together, these elements point to credible indications of genocidal acts and intent that cannot be ignored. Regarding the dilemma of what more to say, we could today focus on recent atrocities, including the double strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza. As a country that once benefited from regional and international solidarity through the Economic Community of West African States and the United Nations during our most difficult days, Sierra Leone feels a deep responsibility to speak plainly on behalf of the victims and to call for an end to the ongoing inhumanity and indignity. We therefore offer the following observations. Secondly, what is unfolding in Gaza is not random. It is a systemic pattern of atrocity crimes. We note reports of indiscriminate and disproportionate bombardments in densely populated areas; the deliberate deprivation of food, water, medicine and fuel; the razing of entire neighbourhoods; attacks on hospitals, ambulances and shelters; and the killing of journalists, medical workers and aid staff. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee has determined that famine is currently occurring in Gaza governorate, and that Dayr al-Balah and Khan Yunis governorates are identified as most vulnerable in the coming weeks. This Gaza famine is not a natural disaster. It is human-made, the result of deliberate obstruction and denial of humanitarian assistance, as we heard from Ms. Ashing. Under international law, genocide includes killing members of a group and inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. Today in Gaza, we see undeniable warning signs of exactly such destruction being inflicted on a civilian population. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already issued arrest warrants, including for the war crime of starvation. The International Court of Justice has ordered the Government of Israel to take all measures to prevent genocide and to enable humanitarian relief. Yet, the devastation continues, and the orders of the International Court of Justice are openly disregarded. The pattern, regrettably, is not confined to Gaza. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, we see a parallel strategy: a surge in settler violence, the expansion of illegal settlements and plans that threaten to sever territorial contiguity. Entire communities are being uprooted, with the clear effect of rendering life unviable for Palestinians and making the two-State solution increasingly unviable. Sierra Leone views these developments with grave concern. The parallels to ethnic cleansing are unmistakable. Thirdly, we must also note the systematic assault on truth itself. As stated, the Secretary-General has been subjected to vilification campaigns simply for speaking the truth. The United Nations and its agencies have faced unsupported accusations. Even United Nations facilities, including schools and shelters, have been struck, undermining their essential humanitarian work. Journalists and media workers have paid with their lives in unprecedented numbers. News bureaux have been bombed, communications cut and reporting stifled. Medical personnel, doctors, nurses and paramedics have been attacked in clearly marked facilities and ambulances. Independent experts have described this as a war on healthcare. At the very least, these attacks amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Silencing those who bear witness to suffering is an attack on truth and human dignity. Without truth, atrocity flourishes unchecked. We therefore call on all parties to respect the independence of the United Nations and ensure the safety of humanitarian actors, journalists and medical workers. The Council was created to respond to threats to international peace and security and to prevent the very horrors that we are now witnessing. Yet, despite overwhelming evidence of atrocity crimes, our response has been disturbingly The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide obliges all States not only to punish but also to prevent genocide. Inaction or paralysis in the face of clear warning signs is not neutrality; it is complicity. Inaction and indifference may equal complicity. Future generations will look back and ask whether the Council did everything in its power to stop an atrocity in real time. History’s judgment will be unforgiving if we fail to rise to this moment. The path forward is clear. We have listened carefully to the parties. From the State of Palestine, the calls are clear: an immediate ceasefire, renewed commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative, disarmament of Hamas and a reinvigorated pursuit of a two-State solution. From Israel, we hear the imperative of freeing hostages, the need for security and the desire to live in peace and enjoy normalized relations with Middle Eastern States. These objectives are not mutually exclusive. They are interdependent. A cessation of hostilities is indispensable to save Palestinian lives and uphold their rights, just as the release of hostages and security guarantees are indispensable for Israelis. There must be an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable humanitarian ceasefire. There must be unfettered humanitarian access, with all crossings opened for food, medicine, fuel and water. There must be the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and humane treatment of all detainees. There must be an end to the collective punishment of, and attacks on, civilians, hospitals, journalists and United Nations facilities. There must be accountability for atrocity crimes through support for the ICC and the investigative mechanisms of the United Nations. The Council should also consider measures, including restrictions on arms transfers, to halt the means by which atrocity crimes are being committed. The core purpose of the United Nations is to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights. In Gaza today, we face a moral test that will define our legacy. “Never again” was the vow made after the genocides of the past century, but it becomes meaningless if we turn away now. Sierra Leone’s position is clear: we cannot be silent, we will not be complicit, and we will continue to raise our voice for the victims. Major General Henry Kwami Anyidoho, who served as Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda in 1994, once recalled that when confronted with a difficult choice, “we had to act according to the dictates of our conscience”. This is such a moment. For the sake of international law, for the sake of humankind and for the children who are starving as we speak, the time for action is now.

I thank the briefers for their briefings. The Gaza conflict has persisted for nearly 700 days. Gaza became a living hell long ago, with 2 million Gazans completely trapped in a massive, man-made catastrophe and more than a million people facing a food security emergency. The international community needs to exhaust every means possible to prevent any further deterioration. China reiterates that violence cannot bring security, nor can force achieve peace. Israel’s continued, heightened military offensives have resulted in daily losses of numerous innocent lives. Israel’s strike on the Nasser Hospital on 25 August killed more than 20 civilians, journalists and medical workers, creating yet another China reiterates that violations of international humanitarian law are unacceptable. The weaponization of humanitarian supplies is unacceptable. The militarization of the aid distribution mechanism is also unacceptable. All along, the biggest challenge to scaling up humanitarian assistance in Gaza has not been the shortage of supplies or the inadequacies of the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies. Rather, it has always been the lack of political will and deliberately created obstacles of Israel, the occupying Power. We call on Israel to fulfil its obligations, as an occupying Power under international humanitarian law, by opening all border crossings, fully restoring humanitarian access and supporting the United Nations in providing assistance in line with humanitarian principles, in order to truly alleviate the humanitarian disaster on the ground. China reiterates that the long-unfulfilled aspiration of an independent Palestinian State is a fundamental obstacle to the solution of the Palestinian question and the root cause of the recurrent volatility of the Palestinian-Israeli situation. The Palestinian people’s right to statehood, their right to survival and right to return must no longer be ignored. Israel’s recent approval of a settlement expansion plan in the E1 area of the West Bank will severely undermine the contiguous nature of the Palestinian territory, to the detriment of the foundation of a Palestinian State. The international community must build on the positive momentum of the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, reinvigorate the political prospect of the two-State solution with the utmost urgency, firmly reject any forced displacement of the Palestinian people and oppose any dangerous attempts to annex the West Bank and Gaza. When peace is absent in the Middle East, peace eludes the world. At present, the Middle East situation remains complex and fragile, with multiple, intertwined hotspot issues. However, the question of Palestine remains central to the Middle East issue. China supports the Council taking all necessary actions to achieve a ceasefire, end the fighting in Gaza and alleviate the humanitarian disaster. We call on all countries, particularly a certain country with significant influence over the parties concerned, to uphold a just and responsible position and play a constructive part. China will continue to work with the international community towards ending the war in Gaza, advancing the implementation of the two-State solution and, ultimately, achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the Palestinian question, so that both the Palestinian and Israeli peoples can live in shared tranquillity and happiness.

We are grateful to today’s briefers for the information they provided on the situation in the Gaza Strip. Over the past few days, we, like many others of our colleagues, have been stunned by new information showing record levels of famine in Gaza. Persistent calls on Israel to immediately stop the collective punishment of Palestinians have come from various capitals around the world, including Moscow, as well as from the headquarters of international and regional organizations, and from United Nations offices worldwide. In addition, the world is demanding that West Jerusalem recognize that there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, paving the way for lasting peace and security in the Middle East. This is the only scenario that meets the interests of both the Israelis and their neighbours. Such statements by the leadership of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, who are quite restrained in their assessments of other cases, are backed by daily reports from Gaza of dozens of civilian deaths. Just the day before yesterday, more than 70 people fell victim to Israel’s indiscriminate strikes on the sector. Two days ago, an attack in the south of the enclave destroyed the Nasser Hospital and killed more than 20 people, including five journalists. That happened, literally, live on air. Meanwhile, judging by the images in the media, Israelis resorted to the cynical tactic of a double-tap strike when rescue teams arrived. Even Benjamin Netanyahu has indirectly acknowledged Israel’s responsibility for what occurred, calling it a tragic mishap and promising to conduct an investigation. On a separate note, we would like to draw your particular attention to the activities of the United States-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Since the Foundation was established this past May, the situation has become tragic and completely unacceptable. According to various estimates, more than 1,800 Palestinians have died trying to obtain humanitarian assistance. At least 1,000 of them were in close proximity to the distribution points that were managed by this pseudo-humanitarian structure. According to reports, civilians have been targeted not just regularly, but also deliberately. People in utter despair spend nights at food distribution points only to receive bullets in return. This is not a humanitarian mission, this is violence camouflaged as good intentions. Under the guise of so-called humanitarian work, there is a policy of terror and oppression against defenceless civilians. Such methods are unacceptable. We are convinced that the work of the Foundation, in its current form, is dangerous and does not comply with universally recognized humanitarian principles. There is no point in denying this. Against this backdrop, we are seriously concerned about reports in the media that the United Nations Secretariat, allegedly ceding to pressure from the United States and Israel, has quietly committed to toning down its rhetoric when it comes to the Foundation’s activities. We would like to note that, starting from August, United Nations humanitarian reports have almost stopped mentioning the work of this structure. We hope that these allegations are not true. We are convinced that the United Nations Secretariat cannot and should not compromise its principles, when humanitarian assistance is turned into a tool for blackmailers. We trust that the Secretary-General and the United Nations humanitarian agencies will consistently and unconditionally advocate for humanitarian assistance to be provided in strict accordance with international humanitarian law and the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. The horrific statistics regarding the number of victims of the Israeli military operation in Gaza — more than 63,000 Palestinians have already been killed — is in no way stopping the Netanyahu Government, which has opted to cleanse densely populated Gaza City and establish total control over the entire Strip. Nor is West Jerusalem sobered by the opinion of the overwhelming majority of the international community. We would like to remind the Council that on 10 August, during the emergency meeting of the Security Council (see S/PV.9975), almost all delegations, including those representing Arab and Muslim countries, condemned Israel’s new We are also surprised that the Israel Defense Forces’ operation to capture Gaza City was launched amid reports that Hamas had agreed to the mediators’ most recent proposal to release some of the hostages and establish a temporary ceasefire. We are closely following the diplomatic efforts of the mediators, including the efforts of Washington. Quite frankly, we do see some discrepancies in the assessments of how the negotiations are going. United States colleagues keep saying that Hamas is refusing to make a deal. At least, that is what the United States delegation has been trying to convince the Security Council of over the past few months. At the same time, there are signs that the Hamas movement is prepared to make a deal, but Israel is either rejecting the mediators’ proposals or simply escalating hostilities on the ground. It is showing no real interest in reaching agreement. The latter was publicly announced yesterday by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Qatar, which, along with the United States and Egypt, is participating in the negotiation process. We have heard about the United States’ aggressive diplomacy on the ground for many months now, but, regrettably, we are increasingly convinced that it is not yielding encouraging results. We urge our American colleagues to think not only about the interests of Israel, which they so zealously defend, but also about the fate of Palestinian civilians, whose lives and future today depend to a large extent on the Council’s action or inaction. Multilateral diplomacy alone, which we are urging our United States colleagues to engage in, can and should provide a chance to revive the two-State solution. This principle, enshrined in the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, is now truly under threat. The reason for this — and for the human-made humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza — is Israel’s policy of establishing new facts on the ground, which runs counter to international law. The most high- profile development in this regard is the recent decision by the Higher Planning Committee to approve settlement construction in the E1 area in the West Bank, to the east of Jerusalem. We all understand that the implementation of this large-scale expansionist project will breach the contiguity of the territorial integrity of a future Palestinian State, dividing up the West Bank into two isolated enclaves separate from each other. What is frightening in this regard is not only the concept itself or the unambiguous utterances by Israeli officials. For example, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich clearly stated that the plan for settlement construction in the E1 area would basically “bury the idea of a Palestinian State”. Also frightening is the fact that such provocative acts enjoy support from some American senior diplomats. For example, United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee pointed out that the settlement construction in the E1 area apparently did not violate international law. Such opinions directly run counter to the foundational documents of the Middle East settlement process and to the recent decisions of the Security Council, including resolution 2334 (2016). In conclusion, we would like to underscore our unwavering position that it is only a diplomatic settlement of the Palestinian question based on the formula of two States for two peoples that can both address Israel’s legitimate security concerns and fulfil the Palestinian people’s rightful aspirations to have their own State. The alternative to this is further isolation of West Jerusalem on the international scene and a growing number of civilian casualties among Gazans and Palestinians. By acting this way, Israel is not solving any security problems; rather, it is putting them off by fostering vengeance and hatred among young Palestinians. This is an extremely short-sighted and irresponsible policy. Indeed, it was moving to hear about the predicament of the Palestinian children under occupation. But the question is, will it move this house? Indecision is complicity, as she rightly reminded us. We also listened with deep empathy to Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky. We sincerely hope for the safe and swift reunification of her family and of all those still in captivity, and we wish the same for those thousands of Palestinians illegally detained and mistreated by the Israeli occupation for prolonged periods. There must be healing for everyone — healing that corresponds to the human suffering of all, healing that would eventually close and cure the wounds inflicted by decades of occupation, healing in which there can be no better dressing than justice and international law, healing that can start now with a ceasefire. Yet, we are in an endless war imposed by the occupier. It has now been 691 days of unrelenting tragedy in Gaza. During this period, Israel has trampled every principle of international law and international humanitarian law with utter impunity. More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed, among them more than 19,000 children, 10,000 women, at least 273 journalists and more than 360 United Nations aid workers. Civilian life has been deliberately and systematically dismantled. Even Israel’s own military data, as reported in the international media, shows that 83 per cent of those killed are civilians. How can this ever be justified or defended? This cannot be collateral damage. It is mass carnage. Today no place in Gaza is safe. Yet, the indiscriminate military onslaught continues because Israel is confronted with no real consequences for its actions. Hospitals, schools, homes — nothing has been spared. The world is now witnessing the livestreamed killing of journalists and rescue workers. The strikes on the Nasser Medical Complex were appalling and condemnable. Yet, they are tragically familiar, and part of a grim pattern. There are those who shield Israel and who try to silence the Council into inaction. What else is complicity? In fact, impunity has become Israel’s shield and the Council’s silence, its enabler. The occupying Power’s apologists must introspect and objectively assess the consequences of their policies. As if bombs were not enough, hunger is now a weapon of mass destruction. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis confirms famine is now present in Gaza City, threatening more than half a million people. The use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare may constitute a war crime. Under- Secretary-General Tom Fletcher rightly observed, and these are strong words that need to be repeated in the Council: “It is a famine we could have prevented, if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel”. “It is a famine in 2025, a twenty-first century famine”. It is not by negating or criticizing and pressurizing the United Nations and its senior officials, or by denying and rejecting the findings of the International Court of Justice and of global human rights and humanitarian organizations, or by silencing the media, that we can move forward. It is only by accepting the reality that we can build peace. Pakistan condemns Israel’s so-called military operation and planned full occupation of Gaza City, which is nothing but a blueprint for further humanitarian catastrophe, threatening to displace, once more, up to 1 million people. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, at its twenty-first extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, on 25 August, adopted a resolution that speaks with moral clarity. It has urged the Security Council to act promptly, under Chapter VII, to stop the brutal aggression by the Israeli occupation and its violations, which threaten the prospects for achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region and hinder the implementation of the two-State solution. It has also urged the Council to hold Israel, the occupying Power, accountable for all crimes and violations that clearly breach international law and international humanitarian law. The Security Council cannot remain a bystander. It must act now, with resolve, to fulfil its Charter responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. First, it must demand an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire across Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territory, with full implementation of resolution 2735 (2024). We appreciate and support the efforts led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar and hope these will result in an early ceasefire. Secondly, the Council must demand an immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution to the population in need of such assistance, as well as the restoration of all essential services. Thirdly, it must demand the release of all hostages and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners. Fourthly, it must demand a halt to Israel’s declared intent to occupy Gaza City. Fifthly, it must demand an end to forced displacement, illegal settlement expansion and annexations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Lasting peace requires a credible political horizon, one grounded in international law, leading to the realization of a sovereign, viable and contiguous Palestinian State, based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. The occupation must end, for that is the actual root cause of instability in the Middle East. The High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, co-chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and France last month, was a timely initiative. It respects the will of the international community, which must be respected. It must be followed by concrete and coordinated international action to finally achieve the long-coveted peace and stability in the Middle East. Every moment of inaction deepens the suffering that we are all talking about here; it multiplies the grief and tears apart the very fabric of international law. The world is watching. History will not forgive delay. It will not forget inaction. The Council must rise to its Charter duty and act.

At the outset, I would like to thank the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Ramiz Alakbarov, and the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ms. Joyce Msuya, for their briefings. I would also like to thank Ms. Ashing for her briefing on the tragic consequences of the famine in Gaza. Lastly, I would like to stress the France reiterates its unwavering solidarity with the families of all the hostages, who must be released immediately. France denounces the barbaric cruelty of their treatment by Hamas and the abject theatrics of this terrorist movement. Our thoughts go out to the family of our compatriot Ohad Yahalomi, assassinated in Gaza. We will continue to work tirelessly for the return of all hostages, and we will continue our mobilization against anti-Semitism and the barbaric acts of violence that anti-Semitism engenders. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is tragic. Famine is rife in the Gaza Governorate, as confirmed by the United Nations on 22 August. The use of famine as a weapon of war is likely to constitute a war crime. At the beginning of the week, we saw horrific images of new Israeli strikes on the Khan Yunis hospital, which killed many civilians, including journalists. This is intolerable. Civilians and journalists must be protected under all circumstances. France is concerned about the tragic situation of children, which continues to deteriorate, as evidenced by Save the Children. The State of Israel, in accordance with international law, is required to ensure the protection of civilian populations and infrastructure and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. Civilians, including journalists and humanitarian workers, must not be targeted, regardless of their nationality. The Council must speak with one voice on this issue. France stands ready to support all Security Council initiatives to that end. The Israeli Government’s approval of the extension of military operations in Gaza and the plan to occupy Gaza is a reckless move. These operations will in no way ensure Israel’s security. France reiterates its opposition to all forced displacement of the population in Gaza, which would constitute a further grave violation of international law. There is an alternative, that France and the other States signatory to the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution have proposed: an immediate and permanent ceasefire, which is the absolute priority — and France is grateful for the tireless efforts of the United States, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this — the release of all hostages, the massive delivery of humanitarian aid and a lasting political solution including the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of a temporary international stabilization mission. The aim of that mission would be to ensure the security of Israelis and Palestinians, enable the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza and contribute to the implementation of the two-State solution. France will work towards this goal with its partners. It also calls on Member States that have not yet done so to endorse the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution. The implementation of the two-State solution is being increasingly threatened every day. In the West Bank, the Israeli authorities’ approval of the E1 settlement project is intended to make the creation of a Palestinian State impossible. France reiterates its condemnation of settlement activity and all the tensions and violence it provokes. It will continue to work alongside its European partners to put an end to it, including through new sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for settlement activity. We are now at a crossroads. We must not let up in our efforts. We must build on the success of the international conference held here in New York in July and stay the course. The future of the Middle East depends on it. The security of all inhabitants of Israel and Palestine today and tomorrow depend on it. I thank Ms. Gritzewsky for her courageous testimony. The horrors she and her loved ones have suffered are simply unthinkable. I assure her that we are not — and have not been — silent in the face of these heinous acts. There is no denying it: the famine that we have all feared is now a confirmed fact in Gaza City, and it is expected to affect more areas by September. At least half a million people in Gaza are facing the most severe conditions of starvation, destitution and death. This famine is not an unforeseeable disaster. It is not a sudden shock that caught us unprepared and by surprise. It was never inevitable or beyond prevention. This famine is, first and foremost, a result of Israel’s actions to restrict humanitarian aid, including food and other essential goods. We urge Israel to immediately change course. Immediate, large-scale, unobstructed multisectoral humanitarian assistance is critical in order to avert further destitution, starvation and death. Immediate and decisive action will save lives. We are deeply shocked about another attack, on Monday, on a medical facility in Gaza, namely, Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. Civilians, health workers and journalists must be protected. In order to reduce the enormous pressure on Gaza’s health facilities, we call for the resumption of medical evacuation corridors from Gaza to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Additionally, we call on Israel to lift restrictions on essential medicines and medical equipment to Gaza that are currently being denied on the grounds of being dual-use items. Civilians, including humanitarian workers and United Nations personnel, as well as civilian infrastructure, must be protected by all parties in accordance with international humanitarian law. The full-fledged United Nations humanitarian aid system must immediately and unconditionally be allowed to return. Due to Israel’s new restrictive registration requirements, essential international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may be forced to leave imminently, which would further worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian situation. We repeat our call on the Government of Israel to provide authorization for all international NGO aid shipments. Humanitarian aid must cease to be politicized and used as a political bargaining chip in Gaza. In the midst of this catastrophic situation, a military campaign targeted at Gaza City is being launched by Israel. We condemn this decision, which will lead only to more unbearable suffering for the civilians of Gaza City. We urge Israel to halt this operation. Denmark reiterates its firm condemnation of the heinous terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023, perpetrated by Hamas. There can be no justification for this attack, nor for the despicable maltreatment of the hostages. However, we have consistently stressed that Israel’s response must be exercised in compliance with international law and with full respect for international humanitarian law. The fight against terrorism cannot come at the expense of the rules that safeguard humankind. We reiterate our support for the mediation efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar and repeat calls to reach an agreement for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, including the partner of Ms. Gritzewsky. In closing, we need initiatives that bring us closer to the two-State solution, not further away from it. We need initiatives aimed at lasting peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians. Denmark stands ready to support such initiatives and reiterates its steadfast commitment to the two-State solution as the only viable solution for peace in the Middle East.

We thank Deputy Special Coordinator Alakbarov, Assistant Secretary-General Msuya and Ms. Ashing, from Save the Children International, for their sobering briefings today. I have also listened carefully to the testimony of Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky and sympathize with the suffering endured by her and by all families in this conflict. We are gravely concerned about Israel’s recent announcement to impose total military control over the entire Gaza Strip, and to expand new settlements in East Jerusalem. We also condemn Israel’s bombing of the Nasser medical complex in Khan Yunis, which resulted in the deaths of innocent unarmed civilians, including doctors, journalists and patients. These actions risk the prospect of achieving lasting peace and further compound an already dire situation in Gaza and the West Bank. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report has removed any doubt about what is happening in Gaza. Famine is no longer looming. It is a human- made famine, and it is happening in Gaza. The death of children from hunger and disease is not a forecast; it is a fact. Entire families are starving in full view of the Council, despite the presence of an international humanitarian system that could save them, if only it was allowed to act. Let us be absolutely clear: famine in Gaza is not a naturally occurring act caused by a drought, a failed harvest or a sudden catastrophe beyond human control. It is human-made and deliberately created through siege, blockade and systematic obstruction by Israelis. International humanitarian law is explicit. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a genocide and is prohibited. Attacks on objects indispensable to survival — food stocks, water systems, agriculture and medical facilities — are prohibited under international humanitarian law. The Fourth Geneva Convention requires the occupying Power to ensure the welfare of the civilian population under its control. Somalia stresses the following points. First, the blockade must be lifted — not partially, not temporarily, not rhetorically, but fully and immediately. Every day of delay means more children are buried and more families are lost. Crossings must be opened and kept open. Secondly, humanitarian access must be sustained, predictable and at scale. Aid convoys carrying fuel, medicine and essential goods must be allowed to flow without arbitrary inspections, delays or denials. Thirdly, civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Hospitals, bakeries, water networks and schools are not legitimate targets. Fourthly, we call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and reiterate our call for the immediate release of civilian hostages and detainees. The images and reports coming from Gaza are not abstract. In them, there are skeletal children without access to therapeutic food. There are mothers unable to produce milk for their newborns because they themselves are starving. There are We call on the Council to act with urgency and clarity; to demand the immediate lifting of the blockade; to ensure full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access by all routes and means; to protect civilians and humanitarian workers without exception; to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire; and to recommit to a political process that ends the occupation and delivers a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Somalia reaffirms its unwavering support for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination and to establish an independent, sovereign State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. Somalia will continue to stand firmly with the people of Palestine in their legitimate struggle for freedom, dignity and self-determination.

I would like to thank Deputy Special Coordinator Alakbarov, Assistant Secretary-General Msuya, and Ms. Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children International, for their sobering and powerful briefings. I can assure Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky that we are always reminded of what we witnessed during the heinous attacks of 7 October 2023. I wish to highlight the following three points today. First, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic and must be urgently reversed. Hostages remain held in captivity by Hamas, while famine now defines conditions on the ground, as the Secretary-General has rightly stated. Images of children suffering, despite their innocence, from acute malnutrition, are harrowing. Greece, alongside its European partners, expressed its grave concern about the expansion of military operations in Gaza. This would only endanger the lives of civilians and hostages, exacerbate the human suffering and lead to a large-scale displacement of Palestinians, with greater ramifications for regional stability. Medical personnel and journalists must be protected at all times, and incidents such as the strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, which killed civilians, medical staff and journalists, must be thoroughly investigated. All the while, hostages continue to suffer at the hands of Hamas, as diplomatic efforts led by Egypt, Qatar and the United States of America to achieve a negotiated outcome continue. The testimonies of Ms. Gritzewsky and the brother of Evyatar David, who was taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October and held in atrocious conditions for nearly two years, along with the recent appalling footage of the two Israeli hostages, remind us of the urgent need for the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages. Lifting the blockade to allow the flow of humanitarian aid is imperative. Greece recently conducted an airdrop of food supplies over Gaza, in close cooperation with the European Union and other regional partners, including Jordan. Similarly, the reopening of the Cyprus corridor, a critical component of the humanitarian pipeline, will hopefully expedite the delivery of aid into Gaza. Secondly, settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank further undermine prospects for peace. The recently announced construction of additional settlements in the Ε1 area in the West Bank undermines the prospects of a two- State solution and contravenes Security Council resolutions and international law. We are equally strongly opposed to any attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinian population. Similarly, the escalation of settler violence, including against Christian communities, is alarming and must be addressed without any delay. Despite the bleak outlook, Greece remains steadfast in its commitment to peace and diplomacy. We will continue to work alongside the United Nations and international partners to support a just, lasting and comprehensive solution to the conflict. Dame Barbara Woodward (United Kingdom): I would like to start by thanking Deputy Special Coordinator Alakbarov, Assistant Secretary-General Msuya, Ms. Ashing and Ms. Gritzewsky for their sobering and powerful briefings today, which underline one single truth: it is time for this terrible conflict to end. I will make three points. First, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s confirmation of famine in Gaza City marks the first officially recorded famine in modern history in the Middle East. It is entirely man-made and, as my Foreign Secretary has said, it is a moral outrage. More than 100 children in Gaza have died of malnutrition, while food is sitting at Gaza’s borders. I have two clear messages for Israel: immediately lift restrictions and allow food, medical supplies and fuel to reach those in desperate need, in line with international humanitarian law; and allow United Nations and international non-governmental organizations to carry out their life-saving work without obstruction. It is also vital that international humanitarian law be upheld. Israel’s attack on Nasser Hospital this weekend, killing civilians, health workers and journalists, is appalling. We note the ongoing inquiry into this attack. It is imperative that there be urgent and transparent investigations, which hold those responsible to account, in a meaningful way. Secondly, Ms. Gritzewsky provided a truly harrowing account today of the cruelty she experienced at the hands of Hamas terrorists. The United Kingdom unequivocally condemns conflict-related sexual violence, wherever it occurs, and we continue to call for justice for survivors of these abhorrent crimes. Her briefing also reminded us of the agony of the hostages still held in Gaza, including her partner Matan Zangauker. The United Kingdom has been clear that Hamas must immediately release all the hostages taken on 7 October 2023 and lay down their weapons. I recall that the Security Council has called for the unconditional and immediate release of the hostages in all four of our resolutions since 7 October. But I reiterate again today that Hamas must be held accountable for their despicable actions and can have no future in the governance of Gaza. A ceasefire remains the best way to secure the release of all the remaining hostages. The Israeli Government’s plan to expand military operations in Gaza will only put them in further danger. We condemn this decision and urge Israel to change course. Thirdly, Israel’s decision to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area in the West Bank, if implemented, would be a flagrant breach of international law, and it will take us further away from peace. Israel must retract these plans. The

I also wish to thank Ms. Msuya and Mr. Alakbarov for their briefings and, of course, our thanks go to Ms. Ashing and Ms. Gritzewsky, for their testimonies. We are meeting a little more than two weeks after Israel’s announcement of its intention to expand its military campaign in Gaza. At that time, Slovenia, together with a vast majority of Council members, condemned this escalation (see S/PV.9975), which can bring nothing but destruction and further suffering for civilians, medical and humanitarian workers and journalists. What military necessity can justify the killing of a journalist, a doctor or a humanitarian worker, or an attack on a hospital? It will only add to an already catastrophic humanitarian situation on the ground. Unfortunately, those warnings were not heeded. Since that meeting, we have received news that should deeply shake us all. The United Nations-backed Food Security Phase Classification mechanism has confirmed what many on the ground have been saying for months. Famine has taken hold in parts of Gaza. The official declaration may be recent, but the devastating conditions have long been evident in the lives of children, adults and older persons in the Strip, visible to those willing to see and foreseeable to those willing to care. How many more reports do we actually need, how many more warnings do we require, before the Council acts in a decisive and united manner? While Gaza suffers unimaginable devastation, we are also gravely alarmed by the continued deterioration of the situation in the West Bank, including ongoing incursions. The recent approval of settlement construction plans in the E1 area is unacceptable and a clear violation of international law. This reckless move not only undermines the viability of a Palestinian State but also brings no benefit to Israelis. Instead, it further entrenches insecurity, instability and violence. It is clear to nearly every delegation in this Chamber that the current trajectory is unsustainable and unacceptable. The longer the Security Council delays meaningful action, the more complicit we risk becoming in the suffering that continues to unfold. We acknowledge and welcome the efforts of working bilaterally, or within smaller coalitions, to address this crisis. But let us be clear: the United Nations must be allowed to play its role. This is precisely why the United Nations was created: to act when the world is confronted with threats to peace, gross violations of international law and mass human suffering. We need a ceasefire. We need full and unfettered humanitarian access to feed the starving, heal the wounded and bury the dead. We need the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. We need the restoration of respect for international humanitarian and human rights law and, with it, some sense of basic human dignity. These are not political demands, they are legal and moral imperatives. Slovenia firmly believes that the United Nations has both the capacity and the legitimacy to help prevent further escalation and facilitate a path towards peace.

I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of Panama. Panama thanks Mr. Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, and Ms. Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, for their briefings, and reiterates its support for their efforts and for the work carried out by United Nations agencies, within their limitations, in an extremely complicated environment in Gaza. Similarly, we welcome the presence of the delegations from Israel, as well as the representative of the Observer State of Palestine. Panama conveys its appreciation to Ms. Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children International, an organization that supports and protects thousands of children in areas of armed conflict, including in the humanitarian tragedy currently unfolding in Gaza. We also express our respect and solidarity with Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky, survivor of the kidnapping amid the atrocious violence of 7 October 2023. Her experience, marked also by the absence of her partner, Matan, who remains in Gaza, embodies pain, but at the same time hope and human dignity. Her story reflects the tragedy experienced by two peoples who have been trapped for too long in an increasingly cruel cycle of violence. For 22 months, we have been witnessing a war that continues to take a human toll that wounds the moral conscience of the world and demands immediate action by the Council, which cannot remain silent. Since that fateful 7 October, when 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage by Hamas, acts that Panama unequivocally condemns once again, the violence has not ceased. The suffering of so many innocent people reminds us that a future of peace and dignity for Gaza will be possible only without the terror of Hamas, whose ideology has no place in the lives of two peoples who deserve to coexist in peace and security. However, we cannot ignore that the military response triggered by these cruel attacks has compounded the pain and devastation, plunging the Gaza Strip into the hell of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and the entire world into a moral dilemma. More than 62,000 Palestinians, including 18,000 children, have lost their lives; tens of thousands have been injured; millions have been displaced; and entire communities have been reduced to rubble. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has been technically, visually and irrefutably documented in a 22 August report issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee, which concluded that Gaza is already in phase 5, corresponding to famine catastrophe. According to the report, almost half a million people — 22 per cent of the population — are living in famine conditions, while in Dayr al-Balah and Khan Yunis the population is facing a phase 4 emergency, and in the North conditions are similar or worse. There is overwhelming proof that children are dying of hunger in their mothers’ arms and that entire families are surviving without water, medicine or shelter. This is not a natural disaster or an inevitable tragedy. It is a direct consequence of human decisions and actions that use hunger as a method of oppression and pressure. Those decisions do not bring the conflict any closer to a solution; on the contrary, they lead only to more violence, resentment and pain. The attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, which is not the first on a health facility in this war and which claimed the lives of more than 20 people, including True to its history and principles, Panama renews its respect for, and commitment to, international law, including international humanitarian law, and consistently promotes dialogue as a means of reaching political understandings and sustainable solutions. The catastrophic situation unfolding in Gaza cannot and must not be interpreted as complicit silence in the face of actions that violate international law or deviate from the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. All Members of the United Nations have a duty to act at all times in the defence of peace, security and human dignity, without exception. Palestinian civilians, hostages, humanitarian workers, journalists, the missing and all those who, simply because they are alive in Gaza, must be protected, will continue to be the ones who pay the price for decisions made by political leaders who seem to ignore the voices of the world demanding an end to the senseless bloodshed. For the hostages, the missing persons and their families, we call for a ceasefire that will open the door to the immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all and restore hope to their homes. For Palestinian families, we call for a ceasefire that will stop the killing and allow parents to feed their children, find and bury their dead with dignity and live without fear of not waking up tomorrow. For humanitarian agencies and organizations and their workers, we call for a ceasefire that guarantees full, safe and unrestricted access so that they can save lives without giving up their own. For journalists, we call for a ceasefire that ensures the right to tell the truth without paying with their lives, and one that allows them to fulfil their professional and moral responsibility to report. For all of them, Panama calls for a ceasefire for life and human dignity, elements that must be at the centre of all decisions. There can be no victory if it is built upon the bodies of civilians, whose human dignity has been buried among the ashes of destroyed cities. The only viable and legitimate plan to achieve peace in the Middle East will be a solution that enables two peoples — Israelis and Palestinians, who deserve it — to live in security and dignity, with internationally recognized borders and guaranteed rights, free from the fear and violence that is currently engulfing them. I now resume my functions as President of the Council. I give the floor to the Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine.

I thank you very much, Mr. President, for convening this meeting. I also extend our thanks to all the briefers for their presentations and testimonies to the Council. Before I deliver the rest of my statement, I just want to share with the Council that possibly thousands of Palestinian children are with us in this room. I see them. I feel them. They are angels. They are coming to and listening to all Council members, and I am grateful to almost all Council members, who have said so many good things and demanded an immediate ceasefire. Therefore, those angels, who do not know hatred, are extending their hands to those Council members. We want peace. We want a ceasefire. We want food. We want medicine. We want to stop this war Let me also add that we are very grateful for the courageous principled positions of the United Nations, the Secretary-General, Mr. Lazzarini of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Mr. Fletcher of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the three distinguished humanitarian officers from the United Nations and Save the Children. If all those people, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and so many others reporting have not managed to convince a very small number of people of what the facts on the ground truly are, and if those few people still believe that there is a huge coalition against Israel, then why does the Security Council not go to Gaza, meet with everyone, investigate the situation and determine what is really happening to the Palestinian people, to the children, to the mothers, to the elderly, to those who are starving, to those who cannot have a hospital to attend to their wounds? Why do Council members not go there to investigate that situation and take with them hundreds of journalists to report on it? If all the reports of the United Nations are biased and if the reports of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification are not accurate, go and investigate. Take journalists from Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, from Israel itself, from everywhere. Let them go and investigate instead of killing journalists. If the truth is what we are seeking, are these not the methods of finding the truth? And go to Tel Aviv and meet with the families of all the hostages and the tens of thousands who are screaming with them, calling for a stop to the war now so that the hostages can be released. All the hostages who were released, including this lady with us, Ms. Gritzewsky, were released because of a ceasefire. Ceasefires save lives and lead to the release of hostages. Continuing the war claims lives and kills our children and women and many others, including Israelis. Therefore, if all these things are fabrications and cannot be trusted, go and investigate so that we can have an agreement about the truth and then decide what is needed. The Palestinian children who I said were milling about this room, asking Council members for a ceasefire and peace, want to create new conditions in the Middle East, conditions of coexistence with one another. They want to begin the healing process. They deserve healing. It is not just some who deserve healing while others do not exist — everybody deserves healing. We have 2.1 million Palestinians who are still alive in the Gaza Strip. They deserve healing and should therefore be given the opportunity to heal. Let me now deliver my statement. Before the world’s eyes and on its watch, Israel has imposed famine on the Gaza Strip. It has done so deliberately, cruelly and as a matter of State policy. The Gaza famine, a famine eating away at infants and children, was described accurately and vividly by the representative of Save the Children. It is a famine that has now been declared in Gaza City and is creeping rapidly all over the Gaza Strip, a famine that could have been prevented if deterrence had matched the level of the crimes committed. Israel was presented with a ceasefire deal that could save the lives of 2 million Palestinians and 20 Israeli hostages, but it has instead chosen to expand its military control, escalate its brutality and continue killing innocent civilians. Again, it does so deliberately and systematically, obsessed with one objective from day one: the displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people, a continuum that it has pursued for nearly 80 years. And while Israel prevents United Nations staff from returning to Gaza to uphold their mandates, it also continues to prohibit international journalists and international investigations from entering Gaza, insisting on maintaining control of the crime scene and on preventing the full reality from reaching the world, in order to evade accountability. Where else could the killing of humanitarians and journalists, on such a large scale, be tolerated? Where else could the massacre of civilians, day in day out, be tolerated, with reports revealing that civilians constitute at least 83 per cent of the casualties? No Power on earth has dared to do anything close to what Israel is doing, in total impunity. It incites against the Palestinian people and United Nations personnel, starting from the Secretary-General, declaring him persona non grata, effectively instructing its occupation forces to kill, maim, starve, detain and torture. Its contempt for international law, for the Council’s authority and for human life is beyond flagrant. And yet, somehow, it still sits among us around this table. With all their record, still they are sitting here. Israel’s illusions about its own might are leading to real death and suffering, every single day, in Gaza certainly, but also in the West Bank, where killings continue; where communities are forcibly displaced from their homes and lands; where Palestinian life and existence are under grave threat; where military incursions in their villages, refugee camps and cities, at their holy sites, occur daily; where settler violence and terror are unrelenting, more vicious by the day, in Mughayyir, Sinjil, East Jerusalem and Masafer Yatta; and where Israel is feverishly expanding settlements, including its illegal plans targeting the E1 area, to suffocate the Palestinian people, to fragment the Palestinian State, to thwart our self-determination and independence and to destroy the two-State solution. Everywhere the same plan, the same objective, even if the means differ: to get rid of the Palestinian people in order to seize Palestinian land, and the destruction, death, displacement and endless torment of the indigenous people of this land. But Israel does not understand that its actions constitute not only an existential threat to the Palestinian people, but a threat to the very prospect of ever realizing peace and security in our region. The only path to a peaceful, stable and secure future goes through Palestine. The only peace must go through Palestine. An independent and sovereign Palestinian State, a Palestinian people exercising all their rights, attaining justice and living in safety and dignity in their land, living side by side in peace and security with Israel in a region that can then finally enjoy shared peace, security and prosperity: that vision has been enshrined in countless United Nations resolutions, including of the Security Council, and that is the promise of the New York Declaration, the outcome of the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, that we must now transform into reality. The Security Council must act now. Almost all Council members said that, and the Palestinian children — angels — are telling them: act now, and with absolute urgency, to end the Israeli atrocities and this imposed famine. The Council cannot The world must act to halt this genocide of the Palestinian people and to protect them from Israel’s plans of erasure. States around the world must intensify their efforts to deter these crimes and hold their perpetrators accountable. We need real pressure to stop the flood of suffering and start the flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza; to restore the United Nations presence, including that of UNRWA, in the occupied Palestinian territory; to restore humanity to humanitarian aid; to save millions of people; and to let the healing of the unimaginable loss, pain and trauma to begin. Gaza is hell on Earth, but Gaza is the biggest repository of pain, suffering, blood, tears and agony. It will be remembered as the biggest repository of pain on earth. The pain that our people are going through is beyond description. And those who are in pain understand the pain of others. They do not claim a monopoly on pain for themselves alone. Only those who experience pain genuinely can understand the pain of others. And that is what unites them with all those who suffer together. Then they hold hands together to put an end to the pain of everyone, not only the pain of some, denying it to others. We need a protection force to save our people. This war of atrocities must end, and we are ready for the day after, as Palestine, as Arabs, as Muslims, as countries and as international partners, of which there are so many, not only in Europe but in North America, South America, Africa, Asia — everywhere. We have a clear plan for the day after, with regional and international support, and Palestine is committed to do its part to ensure its success. Gaza is an integral part of Palestine, and its future is Palestinian. Gaza is a precious part of Palestine, and it is part of the land of the State of Palestine. There is, therefore, no substitute to Palestine in the governance of Gaza. Palestine recognizes that its own success depends on cooperation with regional and international actors, which also have a key role to play. Palestine is willing to work with the United States Administration — we keep repeating it — Saudi Arabia, regional partners, France, international partners and all the members of the Security Council and the broader international community to ensure that arrangements for the day after address all legitimate concerns, in line with international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions, and that they are conducive to just, lasting and comprehensive peace and security, for all. We will only be successful if our efforts complement each other, especially as we share a common objective: peace. That is the common objective: peace. The United Nations was created for peace. The Security Council is the custodian of the maintenance of international peace and security. That is what unites all of us, all of those who want peace — and we do want peace because we benefit tremendously from peace. War takes the lives of our precious children. We do not want war; we want peace. And if we find partners for peace, then peace will be implemented. We will be successful only if we act now, in seriousness and with the utmost resolve and conscience, with respect for international law and humanity. All this bloodshed and suffering compels us all to act immediately to end this illegal occupation and conflict, once and for all, and to chart a credible path for peace and coexistence in our region. My friend, the Ambassador of Sierra Leone, gave us a fabulous history lesson about what happened in Africa and former Yugoslavia. Let us not have to ask, in future, where were we when genocide was committed in the I remember vividly when Rwanda started evaluating and saying: why did we fail? Why did we not act to stop it from happening instead of trying to go after those who committed these atrocities and to bring them to justice? That is good, but that will not bring back the million people who were killed in Rwanda. Now we are saying to let us act now to save 1 million children in Gaza. The other million are older people. Let us act now to save them. Palestine will not disappear. To those who believe that they can negate our existence, we say that it is an illusion, a dream. Palestine will not disappear. We are rooted in that national homeland from the beginning of history. The Roman olive trees are not as old as the Palestinian people; we are older. We are also responsible. We accepted to share that land and to have two-State solution. Israel will not disappear. That is why we are telling the Council that we are not going to allow Palestine to disappear. As all Council members say, the only solution is the two-State solution. No one can kill their way to peace. To those who think that they have the most powerful army on Earth and that they can do whatever they want, we say that it is an illusion. Instead, what will save all of us is peace and the two-State solution. Even this genocide will not eradicate Palestine. It is a dream; it is an illusion. It will bring more pain to all of us. The best way forward is to end this war, bring peace, achieve a ceasefire now and release the hostages and the prisoners so that they can be reunited with their loved ones. But we have an obligation to bring the human suffering to an end, and we must act now. There can be no more delays. Gaza deserves life. The more than 2 million people who are still alive in Gaza deserve to live. And it is the Council’s obligation to help them to remain alive — even though they are starving and the healing might be almost impossible. But the only option for the healing to begin, especially for the children, is to stop the fighting, give them food, give them medicine, allow them to reheal, allow them, God willing, to be able to heal and to dream the big dreams that all children dream and to fulfil these dreams. Palestinians deserve to live. Those in the Holy Land deserve to live. It is time for life; it is time for freedom; it is time for peace.

I now give the floor to the representative of Israel.

I thank Ms. Ilana Gritzewsky. Her courage honours us all. On 7 October, Hamas ripped her from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, with her partner, Matan Zangauker. She survived 55 days in unimaginable conditions. She is free, but Matan is not. He has been in captivity for almost 700 days — no freedom, no light, no dignity. She was born in Mexico. She came to Israel more than 15 years ago to build her life as a proud Jew. We know that her heart is still with Matan and the others. Her testimony is the voice of those who cannot speak. It is a living reminder of the unbearable suffering that the hostages are still enduring. Their freedom cannot wait. The report on sexual violence in armed conflict (S/2025/389) confirms what we have always known and what Ilana bravely shared: Hamas used sexual violence as a weapon of war. Survivors deserve action, no doubt. Hamas must be blacklisted now. The Security Council must finally designate it as the terrorist organization it is. Despite all the lies in the Chamber, we will not lose sight of our goal: to bring Matan home, to bring them all home. Some Council members have forgotten about Matan. They have forgotten how this all began and the truth about why it continues. We will not leave the hostages behind; their freedom cannot wait. That is why the war continues — to free our people and We need look no further for evidence than the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, or should I call it the fabricated report? The IPC lowered its own thresholds to manufacture a so-called famine. It cut the global standard from 30 per cent to 15 per cent for this report only and ignored its second criterion altogether. I will get to that later. It refused to count most of the aid that did not pass through the United Nations. It used flawed methods while ignoring the wider data available because the data did not serve its narrative. By design, the report misrepresents the true data. Across its many pages — and I am sure Council members read some of the report, which is more than 50 pages long — Hamas is not mentioned even once. The terrorist organization that began this war and steals the aid for its own use is not even mentioned. One of the report’s co-authors is Mr. Andrew Seal, who is a radical anarchist who publicly accused Israel of genocide as early as October 2023, just days after the massacre of our people. And now he officially celebrates Houthi terrorists as upholders of international law. He is one of the co-signers of the report. How could anyone here claim this is a legitimate report? If it were any other nation, in any other context, the IPC would publicly apologize for its failures and retract this fabricated report. But because the report demonizes Israel, any claim is taken as fact. I have listened to all the speakers today. How about we examine the actual facts and only then cast judgment? Preliminary analyses by both official Israeli bodies and independent experts indicate that this so-called report includes IPC-invented data that did not exist. The IPC invented 182 virtual deaths to reach the threshold of 188 supposedly for famine. The numbers did not work for them. There were only six deaths, so they added 182, so now they can present this report. The second fact is that the IPC cherry-picked data from a survey of 15,749 children. It took data from only 7,519 children, which leads to the desired political result of the report’s authors. Thirdly, the IPC hid data that contradicts the agenda. The IPC conducted two surveys in Gaza, and neither one of the surveys in the appendix shows that there is famine in Gaza. Following these gross forgeries, we are demanding the IPC immediately remove the forged report. Let us continue to examine the facts. Let us speak about the aid. The United Nations own records show that more than 500 trucks carrying more than 46,000 tons of aid, 94 per cent of which was food, have entered Gaza since 19 May. Yet according to the United Nations agenda, if one reads carefully, only approximately one out of nine aid trucks actually reached their destinations. Why was that? It was because armed groups and Hamas terrorists intercepted the rest of the trucks inside Gaza — not in Israel, not at the gates, not at the checkpoints, but inside Gaza. During the same period, more than 7,400 trucks with more than 139,000 tons of food and more than 2,000 tons of medical supplies entered, but the IPC refused to count them. On the ground, the picture is clear: the crossings are open, despite the daily lies about crossing closures from the mouth of Mr. Tom Fletcher. On a typical recent day, 300 to 400 truckloads were collected inside Gaza, while hundreds more sat waiting on the Gaza side for the United Nations to distribute them. When partners actually collect and distribute goods, prices fall. And it is not just me saying that or him saying that. Council members can look at the market price. We have seen the prices of goods fall dramatically, but this fact is also ignored. Prices are the most accurate Non-United Nations channels are helping to fill the gaps. Ninety-plus community kitchens are serving 600,000 meals a day. Eighteen hospitals and 12 field hospitals are operating with tens of thousands of tons of medical supplies delivered. Thousands of patients have been evacuated for treatment. We are powering water lines in a desalination plant so hundreds of thousands can easily access drinking water. We continue to work with organizations committed to humanitarian work, not political incitement. Yesterday, World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain entered Gaza and visited both Deir El-Balah and the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing to see these efforts herself. But the IPC report hides this reality behind intentionally flawed methods. It lowers the bar, excludes the aid it dislikes, and publishes the worst case possible. That is not humanitarian work. That is diversion. This same diversion feeds the next one: statements that reward terror. We all know that not too long ago, there was progress towards a hostage agreement. Mediators were working. There was hope. Then France and the United Kingdom made their announcements about their recognition intentions. Many others followed suit. They gave Hamas an out. They told Hamas that if it agreed to a ceasefire and released the hostages, it would get nothing from the international community. They encouraged Hamas to disengage and walk away from the negotiations. I call on those countries to look at their actions and at Hamas’ response to them. When France made its announcement, Hamas called it, “a positive step in the right direction” and urged all States to “follow France” and hailed it as the fruits of 7 October. That is how Hamas referred to their statement: the fruits of 7 October. When the Dutch Foreign Minister resigned a few days ago, Hamas praised his resignation and called it a moral and courageous stance. When Australia changed its policy, a Hamas official thanked the Australian Prime Minister for his “political courage”. These are the people cheering them on: rapists, murderers and kidnappers. They are supposed to stand for Western values: peace, justice and human rights. But their policy is applauded by terrorist monsters who continue to hold innocent people hostage. I hope that fact might cause those nations to reflect. I hope that the virtue signaling was worth it — worth the pain of the hostages, worth the pain of their families and worth the pain of the civilians in Gaza whom Hamas uses as human shields and political tools. They have set a precedent: if one murders civilians, one will be heard; if one takes hostages, one will be rewarded. Every terrorist group is watching. The lesson is simple: violence works. Now we look to September, when there may be more statements similar to the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, which naively states: “Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority” (A/CONF.243/2025/1, annex, para. 11). Therefore, I am asking Council members, and I will ask the leaders who will come here in September: How do they plan on accomplishing this? How exactly do they plan on removing Hamas from the equation? How do members think it will go? They will ask Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza and bring the Palestinian Authority (PA) officials. The last time that any relationship with the PA officials  — and Mr. Mansour can attest to that if he was there — they threw them off rooftops in Gaza. They tortured the PA officials. That was the last time any PA official was in Gaza. So, when members make that statement, how do they think it will work? We know it will not happen based on empty United Nations statements or meaningless summits. We know that members leave the real work to us. They may not say it, but they know it too. They should at least be honest about what their statements really mean — empowering Hamas and allowing it to continue to exploit the people of The Council can keep chasing distractions, or it can return to core principles. Say the hostages’ names, demand proof of life and that they receive aid, medical care and visits from the Red Cross, use real pressure on those who hold leverage over Hamas, make the hostages’ return the first sentence of every statement in the Chamber until they are home. Hamas’ rule must end. Any meaningful future for Palestinians and Israelis requires it. Accountable institutions cannot be built around murderous terrorists. Israel will keep doing the hard work. We will bring our people home. We will dismantle Hamas’ war machine. To Ilana, Matan’s family and all the families, we will not be diverted, we will not be deterred, and we will bring them all back home.

The representative of France has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

I apologize for extending this meeting slightly, but the matter of hostages is a serious and important topic. I will not repeat what I said already, namely regarding our solidarity on the matter and the need to release the hostages as soon as possible. I would like to challenge at least two points made today regarding my country, France. The first point is this assertion according to which the policy that we are pursuing — the two-State solution, the initiative that we are leading alongside Saudi Arabia — can in any way be instrumentalized by Hamas. We are aware that Hamas has its own ways and means of communicating. We are in no way responsible for the way that this is instrumentalized by Hamas. I would like to quote a part of the letter by the French President to the Israeli Prime Minister to clarify, as if it were necessary, once again that the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, and this is my second point, in no way concerns the issue of Hamas. We have not approached it from that angle. We are addressing it to States. What we are saying is that Hamas has no place in the Palestinian State of tomorrow. I will now quote the letter of the French President: “[o]ur determination for the Palestinian people to have a State is rooted in our conviction that a lasting peace is essential to the security of the State of Israel, to its full regional integration into a Middle East that is finally at peace and to a logic of normalization that we support and that must be able to be completed as soon as possible. This lasting peace will involve the creation of a Palestinian State that is sovereign, recognizes Israel and its right to security, is demilitarized and living in peace by your side. In no way does this double belief reflect any kind of indulgence allowing Hamas or any other terrorist group to use such a State to threaten your country in the future. The Palestinian State must be the end of Hamas”. I will stop there. Everyone can of course read the rest of the letter, but I think that it is sufficiently clear. I would like to reiterate that the New York Declaration very clearly and with no naivety refers to the end of Hamas and its disarmament.

Allow me to express my sincere thanks to the interpreters, who have enabled us to continue this meeting without interruption and whose resilience, to use a word we all know, is laudable and worthy of our sincere thanks. The representative of Algeria has asked for the floor to make a further statement. Neither do I wish to respond to the statement made by the representative of the Government of Israel. I just want to lament the fact that, two days ago, 20 people were killed as a result of bombing authorized by the Israeli army, including five journalists, among whom was poor Mariam. There were also humanitarian workers and ambulance workers. Not one word has been uttered regarding those 20 human lives — human lives with families, children. There has not been a single word of regret, at least before the Council. I do not wish to prolong this meeting, which has been painful for us all because we have all felt, beyond the positions of our countries, a deep sense of inability to react, of inability to fulfil our mandate. And that revolts and saddens us all.

I understand the reasons for the displeasure of the representative of Algeria, and I apologize for not intervening promptly to call for decorum when his statement was being interrupted. The representative of Israel has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

I was not planning to respond, and I will be very brief, but the representative from Algeria, not for the first time, is making a spectacle in the Council. I would advise him, before he makes a spectacle, to check the facts. I spoke about the facts. Concerning the horrible pictures he showed earlier, we looked at those names and numbers. I do not want to go into details, but I would meet with him and share with him the information about the diseases of those children he showed and what were the real problems they had — it has nothing to do with malnutrition. But he came here to attack a survivor, to make a spectacle, to compete with Mr. Mansour, so I will not get into his politics, but I will just tell him — check his facts.

The representative of Algeria has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

I ask your forgiveness, Mr. President, for requesting the floor again, only to stress that the facts are absolutely documented. They are documented in the report of the Secretary-General, and they are documented in the 50-page report of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.