Window for Peace in Gaza Not Indefinite, Speakers Stress, Urging Security Council to Consolidate Ceasefire, Ease ‘Profound’ Suffering of Palestinians
While the Security Council heard today that a window exists for Israelis and Palestinians to move away from the conflict and suffering that have long defined their relationship, speakers warned that this opportunity is neither assured nor indefinite.
“The decisions taken in the coming weeks — by the parties and by members of this Council — will determine whether it is sustained,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Collective efforts must consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza and promote stabilization and recovery. To these ends, the 19 February meeting of the Board of Peace is an important step. However, she underscored that “despite the ceasefire, Gaza is still not at peace”. The Israeli military has recently intensified strikes across the Strip and armed exchanges between Palestinian armed groups and Israeli soldiers have continued.
Meanwhile, the situation in the occupied West Bank is “deteriorating rapidly”, she reported. Israeli forces have continued large-scale operations — frequently involving live fire — while widespread raids have been accompanied by home takeovers, mass detentions, movement restrictions and repeated displacement of Palestinian families. These unfold alongside settlement expansion, and — echoing the Secretary-General’s concern and condemnation over Israeli Government actions — she stressed: “We are witnessing the gradual de facto annexation of the West Bank, as unilateral Israeli steps steadily transform the landscape.”
“We cannot afford half measures” at this fragile juncture, she said, urging a reversal of the dangerous trajectory in the West Bank and restoration of a political horizon towards lasting peace in Gaza, an end to the occupation and pursuit of a two-State solution.
Two members of the “Uniting for a Shared Future” initiative — a coalition of more than 550 Israeli and Palestinian leaders — then took the floor, agreeing on both the urgency of the situation and the need for normalization.
From Trauma to Opportunity
Hiba Qasas, Founding Executive Director of the Principles for Peace Foundation, said that this coalition “carries the trauma, fears and aspirations of both peoples”. Stressing that the status quo is not sustainable for either Israelis or Palestinians, she added: “Neither side can have lasting security, dignity and prosperity at the expense of the other.” While the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire will decide whether halted hostilities will become a bridge to stability or merely a pause before the next war, she pointed out that “Gaza cannot succeed if the West Bank collapses”.
“As long as this conflict remains unresolved, regional normalization, integration and the expansion of the Abraham Accords will remain contested, fragile and fraught,” she continued. She outlined several urgent recommendations, including easing movement and access in Gaza and the West Bank, reversing the ban on humanitarian organizations, restoring Palestinian fiscal and banking functionality and backing Palestinian Authority reforms with realistic expectations and verification. She also urged the Council to apply consequences for terrorism and settler violence.
“Despite the profound trauma experienced by both Israelis and Palestinians following the 7 October massacre and the devastating war that followed, this moment presents a historic opportunity — one that must not be missed,” said Nadav Tamir, Executive Director of J Street Israel. The growing international urgency about the Middle East must be translated into a clear, irreversible pathway towards a demilitarized Palestinian State alongside Israel, he said, calling for both sides to be integrated into a regional coalition that rejects jihadist and terrorist forces.
“Israelis understand that the path to security passes through normalization,” he stressed, rejecting the de facto annexation of the West Bank and stressing the need to prevent Hamas from retaining an armed militia. “We stand at a crossroads between annexation and expulsion — which would lead to endless bloodshed — and a negotiated future grounded in mutual recognition and regional integration,” he said. Here, the voice and engagement of the international community are critical. “History shows that trauma can be transformed into opportunity if leadership is courageous and the international community is resolute,” he urged.
Competing Narratives
Following the briefers, the observer for the State of Palestine urged the Security Council — “and all States who are seeking peace” — to act. Israel’s Government is “seeking an explosion in the West Bank”, he said. This would allow it to “go all the way”, and this is the reason for military incursions, settler policies, theft of financial resources and the undermining of the Palestinian Authority — “anything that would allow it to liquidate the Palestine question”. The two-State solution must not become the “two-State illusion”, he said. “If you believe it is the only way forward, then you must end the occupation and save the Palestinian State to save peace.”
However, Gideon Saar, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Israel, said “there has simply never been a Palestinian State”. Stressing that “we are the Indigenous People in the land of Israel”, he recalled the 1917 Balfour Declaration that “reestablished a national home for the Jewish people in our land”. Holding up a map of this “British mandate”, he pointed to Judea and Samaria — “some of you call it the West Bank” — and said that claims that Jewish people cannot live in this area are inconsistent with international law and “morally distorted”. Asking those present to reflect on which gathering mattered more — today’s Council debate or the upcoming Board of Peace meeting — he urged the UN to “wake up before it loses its remaining importance, influence and status”.
On that point, the representative of the United States said the Board of Peace is expected to announce over $5 billion in pledges for reconstruction at its inaugural meeting in Washington, D.C., on 19 February. While some have criticized the Board’s unconventional structure, he stressed that “old structures were not working” and thanked Member States for choosing a new path. “The Board of Peace is a board of action,” he declared. “We call on [you] to work with the Board and commit your time and treasure in a meaningful way.”
Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom — Council President for February — spoke in her national capacity to note that her Government has provided over $100 million for humanitarian support in Gaza in 2026. Noting ceasefire violations on both sides, she warned that the Strip “must not get stuck in a no-man’s land between peace and war”.
Growing Alarm over Annexation of West Bank, Future of Two States
Events in the West Bank were also a focus, with many delegates denouncing recent measures taken by Israel to expand control over Areas A, B and C — moves that threaten the lives of Palestinians and extinguish any hope of a two-State solution.
Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan, described Israel’s decisions as “gravely disturbing” and called for a timebound horizon towards Palestinian statehood.
Many Council members — among them, Bahrain, China, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Latvia and Somalia — called on the international community to oppose attempts to alter the demographic composition of Palestinian territories. France’s representative, like others, said that this “momentum of annexation” undermines prospects for peace at a time of decisive diplomacy, while the Russian Federation’s representative condemned Israel’s attempt to give itself “carte blanche” to irrevocably change the status quo in the West Bank by “entrenching creeping expansion” and expelling the local population.
“History shows that when political horizons narrow, extremism widens,” Liberia’s representative observed. “A freeze on settlement is not ideological — it is preventive diplomacy” he said, explaining that “peace cannot grow where facts on the ground are engineered to avoid it or to foreclose it.” Rather, a just and lasting solution can only be arrived at through peaceful means, the representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said. Panama’s representative warned that “the ceasefire alone is not enough”. What is needed is political will from all actors.
Regional Calls for Reconstruction and Renewal
Speakers from the region also weighed in, with Ayman Safadi, Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan, stressing that “annexing the West Bank means destroying all chances of a just peace”. He called for operational steps to protect the two-State solution, and citing resolution 2803 (2025), said the international community protects the rights of all peoples in the region to live in security and peace by preventing Israel from annexing the territory.
The representatives of Saudi Arabia and Syria, the latter speaking for the Arab Group, both similarly rejected Israel’s attempt to “assassinate the Palestinian State”. Badr Ahmed Mohammed Abdelatty, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, condemned these practices while underlining the need to begin recovery and reconstruction in Gaza — not just physically, but also towards the “restoration of the elements of a normal life”.
Also opposing Israel’s “expansionist policies and unlawful measures” in the West Bank was Qatar’s representative, who said that these actions violate international law, fuel regional conflict and hinder peace efforts. Qatar supports the mandate of the Board of Peace as a “transitional” body, she said — a point echoed by the representative of Türkiye. Meanwhile, the representative of the United Arab Emirates stressed that the promise of reconstruction and renewal “can only be fully realized if accompanied by a political pathway that leads to the two-State solution”.
For his part, Sugiono, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, said that the work of the Council and the Board must reinforce each other. “Peace may have different tracks,” he stressed, “but it cannot afford different directions.”