Security Council Urged to Push for Ceasefire as Toddlers Starve to ‘Death by Design’ in Gaza
Israel Is Doing UN’s Job, Says the Country's Delegate, Citing Fight against Terror
Following a new evacuation order in Gaza’s Deir al Balah amid intensified hostilities, speakers at the Security Council emphasized the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and for scaling up life-saving humanitarian aid to assuage the needs of a starving population.
“This nightmare of historic proportions must end immediately,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, as he updated the 15-member organ on the recent developments in the Middle East, including the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Pointing out that today’s meeting takes place as intensive talks continue over a potential Gaza ceasefire agreement and release of hostages, he said: “It is crucial that this leads to a permanent end to the war and the release of all hostages.”
Human Toll Increasing ‘By the Hour’
However, the horrific situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, with Israeli military operations and hostilities expanding throughout the Strip and the human toll mounting by the hour, he said, adding: “The intensive Israeli military operations in Deir al Balah that has resulted in still further Palestinian displacement and direct strikes on two UN guesthouses has further exacerbated the dire situation and impeded humanitarian operations.”
Citing figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health that point to the killing of 1,891 Palestinians in Gaza since his last briefing on 30 June, he said that some 294 of them were reportedly killed while attempting to collect aid, including in the vicinity of militarized aid distribution sites.
Against that backdrop, he echoed the Secretary-General’s calls for the repeated displacement of the population in Gaza to cease, for the hostages to be immediately and unconditionally released, as well as his condemnation of the 17 July Israeli strike on the Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City, which killed three and injured several others.
He also voiced concern over the high levels of violence driven by ongoing Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank, pointing to several lethal incidents, including the 1 July killing of a 17-year-old Palestinian boy during an operation in Ramallah.
“I implore the parties first and foremost to end this war,” he said, underscoring the urgent need for a ceasefire and for steps to be taken to reverse the trajectory across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, alongside fiscal relief for the Palestinian Authority.
Deaths by Design
The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, spotlighting the deaths by starvation of two toddlers, among fifteen people dying of hunger within the past 24 hours in Gaza, called for the saving of the 2 million people who remain in the war-ravaged enclave, 1 million of whom are children. Israel is targeting surviving Palestinians in a scheme to take over the land, he said, deploring the deaths of hunger and thirst “by design” of those desperately trying to get food and water. “What is being done now that could actually stop this horror?” he asked.
Citing measures, including the International Court of Justice’s landmark opinion adopted a year ago, he underscored the need for a coalition of the willing to end the occupation and the conflict. “Red lines are useless if they can be crossed over and over again without consequences. […] Words are meaningless if they are not followed by action,” he stressed. The international conference to be convened at the end of the month by Saudi Arabia and France provides an opportunity to transform international law into an achievable plan to end the occupation and the conflict once and for all, he added.
Israel Making Middle East Safer
For his part, the representative of Israel said that while his country is working tirelessly to bring the 50 innocent hostages home from Gaza, Hamas has rejected every offer. “The suffering of its own people is its greatest weapon,” he stressed. While chaos reigns in the Middle East, with Hizbullah rearming in Lebanon, Iran’s “genocidal regime” attempting to restart its nuclear programme; and unimaginable atrocities perpetrated against Syria’s Druze minority, Israel is “making the region safer for everyone who values peace and calm”.
“In other words, we are doing the work of the United Nations,” he said, taking issue with the Organization for clinging to its political agenda and defending its agencies which have abandoned neutrality. Critiquing “baseless” statements made by officials at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, he said that hundreds of the agency’s employees are undergoing security vetting, with key personnel to be denied renewal of their permits, “following clear evidence of strong affiliation with Hamas”. “Israel will continue to do what is necessary to protect its people, defend its borders, help neighbours in need and bring its hostages home; we invite the UN, finally, to do the same,” he added.
In the ensuing discussion, Council members — including the representatives of France and Panama — condemned Israel’s firing on Palestinians in Northern Gaza who were seeking aid from a coordinated World Food Programme (WFP) convoy, underscoring that civilians and humanitarians must be protected.
Starvation in Gaza
Gaza continues to witness one of the worst tragedies in modern times, with the number of victims exceeding 56,000, mostly women and children, said Somalia’s delegate. The situation there has entered the stage of a “de facto famine”, with daily cases of children and adults collapsing due to severe malnutrition. Palestinians starving to death, being denied “even a crumb of bread, a drop of water” is “a scene that embodies a collective moral and humanitarian failure”, he said.
“Civilians are not starving — they are being starved by Israel on purpose, as a weapon of war,” concurred the speaker for Slovenia. Palestinian civilians continue to be killed while waiting for water and aid or seeking shelter — even in schools and religious sites, he observed, condemning the attack on the Holy Family Church. “This is not a status quo we can accept,” he asserted.
“What we are witnessing is not war, it is annihilation,” said Algeria’s delegate, describing Israel’s actions as “a deliberate plan to erase a people”, to wipe out their roots from their homeland. While “humanity is bleeding in Gaza” and “famine is spreading like fire through dry land”, he said the world is only contemplating, and the Security Council is watching with no action.
“The Palestinian question is a litmus test for the credibility of the United Nations, the Security Council, and the integrity of international law,” echoed the representative of Pakistan, Council President for July. In the past 22 months, Gaza has witnessed “a collapse of humanity itself” and has become “a graveyard for innocent lives as well as for international law”. According to WFP, he added, a third of the population is not eating multiple days in a row, which is an indicator of “a catastrophic level of food insecurity”.
Also deploring the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the population has been squeezed into less than 14 per cent of the territory, Denmark’s delegate stated: “Their reality is one of imminent death by hostilities, starvation or disease […] a daily spectre of not knowing what to fear the most — dying from starvation, or from seeking food.”
Condemning recent strikes on the World Health Organization (WHO) in Deir al Balah, the United Kingdom’s delegate underscored that, while Hamas must play no future role in the governance of Gaza, the organisation representing a credible alternative — the Palestinian Authority — is being undermined by Israeli actions. Israel is withholding $2.6 billion in clearance revenues, crippling the Palestinian economy and pushing essential health and education services to the brink, he observed, adding that this is not conducive to its security.
Non-UN Aid Distribution Mechanism
Allegations that Israel is committing genocide are “politically motivated and false”, stated the United States’ delegate, voicing support for that country’s right to defend itself. While Washington, D.C., does not support the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, Hamas must not be allowed to benefit, she said, mourning the loss of lives of Palestinians seeking aid and pointing out that the most recent such tragedy took place near UN convoys. “It is unfortunate that the UN turns down the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s offer to collaborate with aid efforts,” she added.
However, Guyana’s representative countered that — despite evidence of the deliberate and daily killing and injury of civilians at the Foundation’s sites — “we are told that [it] is the best option to deliver aid to Palestinian civilians in need”. She argued this reflects a broader pattern of weaponizing misinformation in the Gaza war, recalling how similar unsubstantiated allegations have been directed at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which likewise lacked “incontrovertible evidence”.
In the same vein, Greece’s delegate emphasized that any humanitarian plan must adhere to the core principles of international humanitarian law, cover all parts of Gaza and support the existing humanitarian operations within the Strip. “Israel’s GHF plan falls short of this promise”, he added. Noting that the recent agreement between Israel and the European Union on scaling up humanitarian aid for Gaza provides some hope, he urged that country to allow and facilitate the safe, unconditional, massive and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid into the Strip.
West Bank Escalation
Settler expansion and violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are further jeopardising the prospects of a two-State solution, many emphasized, with Egypt’s delegate, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, condemning the draft law approved in the Israeli Knesset today, which imposes Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and Jordan Valley.
Broader Regional Tensions
“The Middle East stands at a critical crossroads,” said the speaker for Sierra Leone, emphasizing that the suffering of civilians in Gaza, the instability in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, and the stagnation of the peace process collectively underscore the need for renewed leadership and firm action.
Picking up that thread, the Russian Federation’s representative stressed that “the spiral of escalation in the region has intensified and pulled new States into it”. He warned that Washington, D.C., and West Jerusalem pushed the region to the brink of large-scale war. The United States’ “peace through strength” approach cannot resolve the long-standing issues in the region, he insisted, noting that the “cowboy-style” attempts cannot create a long-term balance of interests in the very complex Middle East landscape. “West Jerusalem should finally understand that it’s impossible to change geography and that Israel would have to coexist with all its neighbours,” he stressed.
In the same vein, Iran’s delegate condemned Israel’s unprovoked military attacks against his country, as well as its attacks against Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
Calls for Ceasefire
Many underscored the need for a ceasefire, with the representative of the Republic of Korea calling on all parties in the region, notably Israel and Hamas, “to recover common humanity”. Echoing that sentiment, China’s delegate underscored that “the Middle East cannot remain under the shadow of conflict forever, nor can its people continue to live in insecurity of war.”
For her part, Qatar’s delegate highlighted her country’s intensive efforts with Egypt and the United States towards an agreement establishing a permanent ceasefire, the exchange of prisoners and detainees, and provision of humanitarian assistance throughout the Strip.
Numerous delegates cited next week’s conference on the two-State solution — co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia — as “a vital opportunity” to secure a better future for Israelis, Palestinians and the region.