A high-level U.N. Security Council meeting failed to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, despite massive suffering and growing risks.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who unequivocally condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attacks on Israel that killed 1,400 people and led to Israel declaring war on Hamas, said the situation is growing more dire by the hour.
"The war in Gaza is raging and risks spiralling throughout the region. Divisions are splintering societies. Tensions threaten to boil over," Guterres warned the council on Tuesday. "I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear: No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law."
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen rejected Guterres' appeals for a cease-fire and vowed to wipe out Hamas, saying its attacks were a wake-up call for the free world.
“How can you agree to a cease-fire with someone who swore to kill and destroy your own existence?" he asked. “It is not only Israel’s right to destroy Hamas. It’s our duty.”
While Israel pounded Gaza with increasingly intensifying airstrikes, Guterres emphasized the rules of war must be obeyed. He criticized Israel for ordering more than 1 million Palestinians to flee to the south for safety – then bombing the south.
"The relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the level of civilian casualties, and the wholesale destruction of neighborhoods continue to mount and are deeply alarming," he said. "The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas, and those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
Almost 8,300 people – including 6,880 Palestinians – have died and 23,575 others have been injured in the war so far, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. That includes 35 staff for UNRWA, the relief agency for Palestinian refugees since 1949.
"Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets," said Guterres. "It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation."
UNRWA, the largest humanitarian provider in Gaza, warned it will run out of fuel and be forced to halt all operations on Wednesday night unless it is resupplied immediately. For the past two weeks Gaza has been under a full electricity blackout, leaving hospitals and water facilities to run on backup generators.
An estimated 1.4 million people in Gaza are internally displaced. Almost 590,000 people are sheltering in 150 UNRWA-designated emergency shelters where overcrowding is a growing concern, OCHA said. The average number of displaced people per shelter is at 2.6 times the capacity; one is at 11 times the capacity.
Several dozen trucks bringing international aid have been allowed to enter Gaza through Egypt's Rafah border crossing since last Saturday, when the first convoy carrying life-saving supplies finally arrived in Gaza on Saturday.
Food, water and medicine but no fuel have been provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent and United Nations and handed over to the Palestinian Red Crescent with the support of U.N. personnel. Israel has not allowed fuel to be brought in to Gaza, saying it could be used by Hamas to generate more attacks.
Twelve of Gaza's 35 hospitals and 46 of its 72 primary health care clinics have shut down due to damage from hostilities or lack of fuel, OCHA said. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization delivered 51 pallets of lifesaving medicines, surgical equipment and other supplies to Shifa Hospital, the largest medical center in Gaza.
2 million on a 'survival mission' day and night
Israeli authorities said at least 220 people were being held captive in Gaza, including Israelis and foreign nationals. At the Security Council in New York, Israel's most powerful ally, the United States, said Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism but Palestinian civilians must be protected nonetheless.
“We know Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and Palestinian civilians are not to blame for the carnage committed by Hamas," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians."
Last week, the U.S. locked a council resolution to condemn the violence against civilians and ease humanitarian aid for Palestinians trapped in Gaza because it did not mention Israel's right to self-defense or condemn the Hamas attacks in Israel.
The 15-nation council, which gives China, France, Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. permanent veto-wielding seats, must demand an immediate and "comprehensive cease-fire" that uses clear and unambiguous language and is line with Guterres' appeals, according to China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun.
"The lives of more than 2 million people in Gaza are hanging by a thread," he told the council's diplomats. "The eyes of the entire world are on this chamber. We call on the Security Council to collectively take responsible and meaningful actions without delay, and send an equivocal, powerful and united message."
Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Iravani, whose nation is a longtime supporter of Gaza's rulers Hamas, said that Israel, as an occupying power, does not have the right to self-defense in Gaza under the U.N. Charter.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki called for an end to "the ongoing massacres being deliberately and systematically and savagely perpetrated by Israel, the occupying power, against the Palestinian civilian population."
“Over 2 million Palestinians are on a survival mission every day, every night,” he said.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, speaking for the U.N.'s 22-nation Arab Group, said Israel is violating international law by destroying Gaza.
“The Security Council didn’t even call for a cease-fire,” he said, adding that the U.N. council that is considered the world body's most powerful arm "must take a clear stance to reassure 2 billion Arabs and Muslims that international law will be applied."
