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MUHANNAD HADI

DEPUTY SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

BRIEFING TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

25 November 2024

[As delivered]

Madam President,

Members of the Security Council,

At the outset I would like to convey the apologies of Special Coordinator Wennesland, who asked me to deliver these remarks on his behalf, due to unforeseen circumstances.

Last week Special Coordinator Wennesland briefed the Security Council on the dynamics unfolding in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and the broader region.

Regrettably, the situation remains grave across the region.

Israeli military operations continued across the Blue Line with Lebanon, as did the firing of rockets by Hizbullah toward Israel, including a barrage this weekend.

I welcome the ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a cessation of hostilities and urge the parties to accept a ceasefire anchored in the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701.

The Special Coordinator also outlined a number of key principles that would lay the groundwork for a viable and sustainable political future for Israelis and Palestinians, within a more peaceful and stable region.

Since the conflict began, the United Nations has consistently urged the international community and the parties to chart a course towards peace.

We continue to call for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and the de-escalation of tensions around the region.

We continue to demand immediate steps to improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance, which is failing to meet even the most basic needs of Gaza’s population.

We continue to call for political and security frameworks that would move us closer to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ending the occupation, and achieving a two-State solution.

Madam President,

As winter approaches, the horror in Gaza continues to grind on with no end in sight.

In the more than thirteen months of conflict since the vicious attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups inside Israel on 7 October 2023, some 44,000 Palestinians and some 1,700 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed.

Over 100,000 Palestinians, many women and children, and tens of thousands of Israelis, including women and children, have been injured.

101 Israelis are still held in Gaza, being held in horrific conditions and denied humanitarian visits.

Recent weeks have seen the devastating intensification of IDF operations in North Gaza, with mass casualty incidents occurring with alarming frequency.

On 10 November, 36 Palestinians, including women and children, were reportedly killed while others were injured, when a multi-story building was hit in Jabalya Al Balad.

On 16 November in Beit Lahiya, two separate Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed at least 65 Palestinians, including women and children, when buildings hosting IDPs were hit.

These are but a small fraction of the deadly incidents that have occurred in recent weeks.

The IDF has said it is targeting Hamas personnel and locations and takes steps to mitigate harm to civilians.

On top of the daily carnage, we continue to witness displacement and destruction, including of civilian infrastructure.

Repeated evacuation orders issued by the IDF have triggered over 100,000 people to be displaced from Northern Gaza southward, since IDF ground operations resumed in the area on 6 October.

The resulting influx into Gaza City and surroundings has increased the population to some 375,000 people, with only an estimated 75,000 remaining in Northern Gaza.

Access to humanitarian aid remains a daily struggle and involves huge personal risk.

Looting of humanitarian supplies by Palestinians is intensifying and becoming more organized and more violent.

In one incident, on 16 November, a UN convoy comprising 109 trucks of food supplies was violently looted by Palestinians, with 97 trucks lost.

On 18 November, over 20 people were reportedly killed by armed Palestinians in an operation said to be led by the Gaza Ministry of Interior to target looters of humanitarian aid.

I again unequivocally condemn the widespread killing and injury of civilians in Gaza and the endless displacement of the population.

I also condemn the continued holding of hostages in Gaza, and the indiscriminate firing of rockets toward Israeli population centres by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, which has continued this month.

Attacks on humanitarians and humanitarian convoys must cease immediately.

Law and order must be restored, and the civilian population must have safe access to vital aid.

Madam President,

The level of essential goods, including humanitarian assistance, that has been allowed into Gaza is inadequate to meet the overwhelming needs of the population.

The campaign in Gaza to vaccinate against poliovirus concluded having reached over half a million children.

It demonstrates what is possible when basic humanitarian operational requirements are met.

As I warned, in my capacity of Humanitarian Coordinator, the delivery of critical aid across Gaza is grinding to a halt and that the survival of two million people hangs in the balance.

I urge Israel to fulfil its obligations to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief into and throughout Gaza and for all parties to respect safe delivery of assistance.

Madam President,

As we confront the enormous challenges in Gaza, we are also witnessing the increasingly dangerous dynamics unfolding in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Violence has continued at alarming levels.

During the reporting period, 32 Palestinians were killed mostly in the context of ISF operations and clashes with armed Palestinians, including in Area A. The IDF say they are targeting Palestinian militants.

While shooting and ramming attacks by Palestinians continued, no fatalities were reported in the occupied West Bank or Israel.

Israeli settlers and other civilians also continued to attack Palestinian communities in the West Bank, many in the context of the olive harvest, while Palestinian attacks on Israelis also continued.

The Israeli Government has also continued its unrelenting advancement of settlements and its policy of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures.

On 28 October, Israeli planning authorities advanced approximately 120 housing units in settlements in area C in the occupied West Bank.

And on 5 November, Israeli forces demolished nine homes in East Jerusalem.

While these dangerous steps accelerate, some ministers are now openly calling for the annexation of the West Bank.

I reiterate that annexation constitutes a violation of international law and must be firmly rejected.

It is crucial that the Palestinian Authority is supported politically and financially.

The waiver that allows Israel’s banking system to cooperate with Palestinian banks is set to expire at the end of the month, once again threatening the Palestinian banking sector and economy.

The use of this renewal letter as a perpetual threat of economic instability, alongside other unilateral steps that undermine the PA’s fiscal stability must end.

Madam President,

Allow me to share a few final reflections from the Special Coordinator.

Developments across the occupied Palestinian Territory, both Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, suggest we are at imminent risk of losing the frameworks we have been operating under since 1967 and 1973 when the Security Council adopted the resolutions aimed at laying the foundations for a just and lasting peace.

We must never allow for a repeat of the 7 October Hamas attacks and their aftermath; we must treat Gaza and the West Bank as a whole, integral to the vision of an independent Palestinian State and avoid repeating the political and administrative divides of the past; we must preserve and strengthen the Palestinian Authority and its institutions; we must create the space for a political solution, not a violent one.

If the forces seeking to undermine the two-State solution are successful, the collapse of the relevant principles and institutional structures will have a ripple effect that could spread far beyond the Middle East.

The United Nations and this office – UNSCO – in particular has a critical role to play in protecting and promoting the very frameworks the international community – and the parties themselves – have identified as the basis for a more peaceful and secure future.

But this requires renewed support from the international community, particularly from the region, to create the enabling conditions for diplomacy to be effective.

We need a ceasefire; we need to get the hostages out, we need life-saving support to be delivered safely now, and we need to ensure the long-term safety and security of Palestinians and Israelis.

Thank you.

An increasing number of Syrians find themselves trapped in an unrelenting cycle of violence and suffering, forced to flee from places of refuge now under attack—both within their homeland and beyond its borders. As humanitarian aid diminishes and hostile rhetoric and actions intensify, Syrians are being driven into increasingly precarious and unsustainable conditions.

TOR WENNESLAND

SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

BRIEFING TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

18 November 2024

Madam President,

Excellencies, Members of the Security Council,

Thank you for convening this ministerial meeting on the Situation in the Middle East.

After over a year of horrific war and bloodshed, the region is at a grim crossroads.

The war between Hamas and Israel has spread to the region –involving non-state armed groups and now engulfing large swaths of Lebanon in a war between Hizbullah and Israel, amidst repeated escalatory exchanges between Israel and Iran.

As feared, a year of armed exchanges across the Blue Line between Israel and Hezbollah has erupted into an all-out war.

Daily barrages of rocket fire from Lebanon towards northern and central Israel, massive Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and an Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon have led to alarmingly high numbers of casualties and massive destruction.

Armed groups operating from Yemen, Iraq and Syria have also continued to launch missiles and projectiles toward Israel, while Israel continues to strike in Yemen and Syria. Israel and Iran have also engaged in overt and direct military confrontations, with Iran launching hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, and Israel conducting extensive airstrikes on Iran.

Madam President,

We are living a nightmare. The trauma and grief that has been unleashed is immeasurable. Hamas’s appalling terrorist attacks inside Israel on 7 October 2023 and Palestinian armed group’s killing and continued holding of hostages in unbearable conditions has devastated Israel. Grinding warfare and Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza has wrought mass destruction and enormous casualties. Most of the Palestinian population in Gaza has been displaced and whole areas of the Strip are being emptied and made uninhabitable.

These events will reverberate for generations and shape the region in ways we cannot yet fully comprehend.

Madam President, as this Council has been briefed repeatedly,

The humanitarian situation in Gaza, as winter begins, is catastrophic, particularly developments in the north of Gaza with a large-scale and near-total displacement of the population and widespread destruction and clearing of land, amidst what looks like a disturbing disregard for international humanitarian law.

The United Nations and its partners are working around the clock to bring assistance to the population in Gaza. But humanitarian agencies continue to face an incredible challenge and dangerous operational environment, as well as access restrictions that seriously hinder their vital work. Attacks on humanitarians and looting of aid – including by organized armed Palestinians – remains a serious and unaddressed obstacle, as was proven to be so on Saturday.

The current conditions are among the worst we’ve seen during the entire war and are not set to improve.

Meanwhile, Madam President,

The occupied West Bank remains stuck in a destructive spiral of violence and hopelessness.

Israeli military operations in Palestinian cities and refugee camps in Area A continue, often leading to armed exchanges with Palestinian militants, while Palestinian attacks against Israelis and high levels of settler-related violence also persist. In all of this – civilians continue to pay the price, very often and increasingly with their lives.

At the same time, settlement expansion continues unabated, as the Israeli Government has taken numerous steps to accelerate settlement advancement, with some ministers now openly calling for formal annexation of the West Bank in the coming months and establishing settlements inside Gaza. This comes in the wake of significant steps in recent months to reshape Israeli control in the West Bank, including not only settlement enlargement, but large-scale state land declarations and the appointment of a civilian deputy in the Civil Administration, thus deepening the illegal occupation.

These dynamics exact a political toll, further undermining the Palestinian Authority, which continues to face an ongoing fiscal and institutional crisis.

All told and combined with developments in Gaza and Israel’s recent passage of laws against UNRWA’s operations, I must issue an urgent warning that the very institutional framework of support to the Palestinian people and a viable Palestinian state are on the brink of dissolution, threatening to plunge the Occupied Palestinian Territory into even greater chaos.

Madam President,

How much more misery can ordinary people on both sides be expected to endure? What greater burden can we place on humanitarians to deliver? How much further can we bend the system of international laws and institutions meant to protect innocent civilians? How many times can we test the limits of restraint? How deeply can we allow Palestinian institutions to be undermined, threatening the very arrangements meant to ensure a peaceful settlement to this conflict?

Frankly, I don’t have the answers, but I can tell you that what we are living now is the result of us testing all these breaking points for way too long.

The steps being taken on the ground in Gaza and the occupied West Bank that I have outlined – not only today but over many briefings in this Council – are taking us further away from the peace process and ultimately a viable Palestinian state.

Armed resistance and military solutions will ultimately fail to provide safety or security for anyone. We need to see greater security for Israel and Palestinians’ realization of their right to self-determination.

Although preparations for recovery and reconstruction are well underway, humanitarian relief and reconstruction can be no more than band aids absent a political solution.

Mister President,

If the parties cannot find a path out of the perpetual warfare, then the international community must define the path forward.

The international community must act now – together with the parties – to change the dangerous course we are on.

Here is what we need: we need an immediate ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza.

We need the ongoing and concerted diplomatic effort to deescalate tensions around the region, including a ceasefire in Lebanon anchored in the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

And we need to see implementation of concrete, irreversible steps towards a political framework that resolves the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ends the occupation, and achieves a two-State solution.

The international community must put down clear markers on how to end the war in Gaza in a way that lays the groundwork for a viable and sustainable political future.

I have mentioned some of these principles in my recent briefings to the Council. I choose to reiterate them here today because they need urgent safeguarding and attention.

• Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a future Palestinian State – with no reductions in its territory. The repeated displacement of the Gaza population must cease, and people must be allowed to return to their homes.

• There should be no long-term Israeli military presence in Gaza, while at the same time Israel's legitimate security concerns, particularly in the wake of the acts of terror committed on 7 October, must be addressed. Calls for the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza must be firmly rejected and clearly opposed.

• Gaza and the West Bank must be unified politically, economically, and administratively. They must be governed by a Palestinian Government that is recognized and supported by the Palestinian people and the international community.

• There can be no long-term solution in Gaza that is not fundamentally political.

Mister President,

Supporting and sustaining a meaningful political process that can effectively address these issues will require an international community that is engaged and coordinated.

There must be a context in which the international community can muster the tools and a timeline for how this conflict should end, rooted in well-recognized principles, with the capacity to leverage the strengths, resources and influence of the region and international partners with the two parties.

We are again in need today of such a political framework, that will allow for a streamlined collective response to the acute recovery and reconstruction needs in Gaza, while ensuring these needs are addressed within the context of a political process that tangibly advances us towards a two-State solution and a lasting peace.

The UN remains fully committed to participate in and cooperate with such an effort, and to do its part to ensure that this awful war not only ends soon, but concludes in a way that ensures a better future for Palestinians, Israelis, and all in the region.

Thank you.