The Sunday meeting of the U.N. Security Council was called for by Britain, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia. It did not place a resolution on the table, a measure that the United States has used its veto power to block five times previously, but saw condemnation of Israel's plans for Gaza City.
Miroslav Jenca, the assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and Americas in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, opened the meeting with a briefing about the conditions on the ground in Gaza, including mass starvation.
Jenca said the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, placing 2 million Palestinians in "even greater peril" while the plan would further endanger the lives of the remaining captives taken by Hamas.
"The latest decision by the government of Israel risks igniting another horrific chapter in this conflict with potential consequences beyond Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories," Jenca said.
Jenca revealed that the Israeli government foresees the displacement of all Palestinians from Gaza City by October 7, 2025, affecting some 800,000 people, many of them previously displaced.
"Reports indicate the IDF would then surround the city for three months, this would then reportedly be followed by an additional two months to seize control of central Gaza's camps and clear the entire area of Palestinian armed groups," he said.
Ramesh Rajasingham, the head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, then gave the council a briefing where he said Palestinians have endured daily killings and injuries for over 670 days.
Rajasingham, in his briefing, condemned the taking of hostages by Hamas as well as the detention of thousands of Palestinians including women and children who remain in Israeli prisons, many held without charge or trial. He also criticized what he called Israel's "smear campaigns" against aid organizations.
The Palestinian Commission of Prisoners' and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs released a report Sunday which said that Israel detained at least 662 people, including 39 children and 12 women in July alone, bringing the total number of arrests in the West Bank since the war began to 18,500. Some 570 of those detained have been women and 1,500 are children, according to the commission.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem released a video Sunday showing footage of an Israeli settler shooting and killing the activist Awdah Hathaleen in the West Bank. The footage was filmed by Hathaleen himself, and documents just one incident of violence faced by Palestinians in the West Bank.
"Humanitarian conditions are behind horrific," Rajasingham said. "Whatever lifelines remain are collapsing under the weight of sustained hostilities, forced displacement and insufficient levels of lifesaving aid. Hunger deaths are rising, especially among children."
Rajasingham said health authorities in Gaza have documented the deaths of 90 children from acute malnutrition, including 37 alone since July 1.
"So, this is no longer a looming hunger crisis, this is starvation pure and simple," he said. "Each day brings harrowing images of women, men and children killed while desperately seeking assistance."
Last week, the international human rights group Doctors Without Borders, released a report that condemned the U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its current mechanisms for the distribution of aid in Gaza as "orchestrated killing."
MSF health centers in Gaza received some 1,380 people injured and 28 dead bodies from GHF distribution sites during a two-week period in July. Of those, some 174 people were treated for gunshot wounds originating at GHF sites.
"The injured who arrive in our clinics are normally covered in sand and dust from time spent lying on the ground while taking cover from bullets," MSF said in its report.
Recent military tactical pauses by Israel have led to some changes in humanitarian operations, Rajasingham said, noting that limited amounts of fuel and food have been allowed in. But U.N. aid workers on the ground have cautioned that meaningful change for the population "remains elusive" as humanitarian conditions remain unchanged.
James Kariuki, the deputy permanent representative for Britain to the United Nations, called the partial aid allowed by Israel in recent weeks "woefully inadequate" and called on Israel to lift all impediments to aid delivery, like barring organizations from humanitarian work through "unreasonable" registration requirements.
Christina Markus Lassen, Denmark's representative, took a firmer stance, stating that Israel has chosen to "further escalate" the war instead of heeding calls for a ceasefire from the international community. Like many who spoke, she noted that Israel's war expansion contradicts last year's advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice.
"We categorically reject any forced displacement. The ICJ's advisory opinion on this matter must be fully respected," she said. "Any unliteral attempts to alter the demographic status of the Gaza Strip is unacceptable and constitute a clear violation of international law."
Lassen added that Denmark "deplores" Israel's killing of starving civilians trying to get food and called the frequency and scale of such incidents "alarming" and "unacceptable." France likewise condemned Israel and called for Israel to reverse its decision, and any plan for the forced annexation or settlement of the Gaza Strip.
Samuel Žbogar, the permanent representative of Slovenia to the United Nations, called the decision by Israel "reprehensible" and "a plan of horror and destruction," as well as a "new low which Slovenia rejects." He said an expanded war in Gaza would make Israelis less safe in the short term and long term, and showed contempt toward a two-state solution.
"Israel has pursued a deliberate policy of starvation, of manufacturing a famine to pursue political and military gains in a clear and blatant violation of humanitarian law," Žbogar said. "The aerial photos of Gaza that have emerged in recent days show total destruction."
"Who, if not this council, can stop the killing?" Žbogar later questioned. "We cannot simply accept a forever war."
Among the nations expressing the fiercest support for Palestinians was Algeria, which said that Israel cares nothing for international law or the authority of the U.N. Security Council.
"Despite the operation, Palestinians will not abandon their homeland. Palestinians will not let go of their rights," said Amar Bendjama, Algeria's representative. "We believe in their resilience as we believe that Gaza, although wounded and bleeding, will one day rise again."
Meanwhile, the representative for Pakistan explicitly called Israel's actions "ethnic cleansing," a point echoed by Russia's representative who likened the situation in Gaza to the Holocaust. He also accused Israel's ambassador to the United Nations of attempting to manipulate the Security Council by shedding "crocodile tears" for the hostages at an earlier meeting, knowing that the body would be taking up the issue of Gaza.
"We must firmly oppose any attempt to occupy Gaza. The recent approval by Israel's Security Cabinet of a plan to take over Gaza is a matter of grave concern for China," said China's U.N. ambassador, Fu Cong.
"We urge Israel to stop this dangerous move at once. Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people. It's an integral part of the Palestinian territory. Any action that seeks to alter its demographic and territorial structure must be met with utmost rejection and resistance."
Fu Cong also said, "the country with significant influence over the parties must encourage a ceasefire," an apparent reference to the United States -- which criticized the fact that the meeting was taking place.
"The United States government believes this meeting is emblematic of the counterproductive role that far too many governments on this council and throughout the U.N. system have played on this issue," said Dorothy Shea, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"Meanwhile, the United States has been working tirelessly to free the hostages, end this war, and give civilians in Gaza a future free of Hamas. To do so, we need to place responsibility where it lies -- with Hamas."
Hamas on Sunday called recent airdrops of aid made by Israel with support from other nations "propaganda" as it urged other nations to pressure Israel into providing more aid for starving Palestinians.
"The aid entering Gaza today is a mere drop in the ocean of humanitarian needs. The airdrops are purely propaganda, entail grave risks to the lives of civilians, and are no substitute for opening the land crossings and allowing trucks to enter in sufficient, safe quantities," Hamas said in its statement.
Hamas demanded that Israel immediately open crossings for the safe entry of a sufficient amount of aid, even as Israel has announced its intent to seize control of Gaza City.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that the total death toll had risen to more than 61,430 people since the war began after two more children died from starvation and malnutrition.
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