Israel

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks, delivered by Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, at the Ministerial Conference to Enhance the Humanitarian Response in Gaza, in Cairo today:

In Myanmar, where the humanitarian crisis continues to deteriorate, a record 3.4 million people are now internally displaced, according to UN figures. The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which calls for nearly $1 billion, is only one-third funded. The UN appeals to Member States to urgently contribute funds.

In Haiti, as the security situation deteriorates, essential UN personnel from agencies and its political mission remain in Port-au-Prince, ensuring continued delivery of critical humanitarian programmes and assistance and political support to assist Haitian-led efforts to successfully carry out the political transition.

Meeting on the heels of yet another thwarted attempt to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza, the Security Council heard a last time from Tor Wennesland, outgoing Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, who voiced deep frustration over the failure of combined efforts to broker a ceasefire, and urged Council members and Member States to guard against the “unravelling of decades” of hard-fought multilateralism.

In Sudan, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports that since the war began 19 months ago there, the first domestic UN flight travelled today from Port Sudan to Kassala. The WFP-managed flights will now offer regular flights to transport aid workers and light humanitarian cargo from Port Sudan to Kassala once a week.

The Security Council today failed to adopt a text, put forward by its 10 elected members, that called for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and demanded the release of all hostages, on account of a negative vote cast by a permanent member.

In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that bakeries serving as lifelines for hundreds of thousands of hungry or starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are on the verge of shutting down due to lack of flour and fuel. This comes at a time when parts of Gaza are at risk of famine.

As the Security Council meeting of 18 November concluded, regional delegations, condemning the horrific aggression being wrought upon the Palestinian people by Israel, along with that country’s attacks against Lebanon, urged the 15‑nation organ to adopt a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza before famine consumes it and the dangerously escalating violence engulfs the entire Middle East.

“The current conditions are among the worst we’ve seen during the entire war and are not set to improve,” Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, warned the Security Council during a meeting on ending the war in Gaza and Lebanon and securing durable peace in the Middle East, as Member States echoed the need for a ceasefire and voiced concern over developments that jeopardize the two-State solution.

Israel’s methods of war align with the characteristics of genocide, the Chair of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today.