Security Council

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, in New York today:

A lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only come through a two-State solution, the United Nations chief told the Security Council today, following the reported rejection of such a formula by Israel’s leaders amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The large-scale influx of weapons and ammunition into any armed conflict raises significant concerns for peace and security, a senior United Nations official warned the Security Council today, as delegates highlighted the risks associated with both Western arms supplies to Ukraine and Pyongyang’s unlawful arms transfers to the Russian Federation.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Nicolas de Rivière (France):

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Nicolas de Rivière (France):

A staggering 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza — 1.9 million civilians — have been forcibly displaced amid Israel’s military operations, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council today, as delegates categorically rejected any statements proposing that Palestinians should be resettled outside of Gaza, including from members of the Israeli Government.

Following strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen launched by the United States and United Kingdom on 11 January — a day after the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding that the Houthis cease attacking merchant and commercial vessels — a senior United Nations official today warned the 15-nation organ of the consequences of further escalation and urged restraint by all concerned parties.

Amid growing fears of widespread insecurity in West Africa and the Sahel, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today of the need to reconfigure the region’s security coordination mechanism, including the possible deployment of an African Union standby team.

The Final Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the former Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) remains as relevant today as the day it was signed, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council today.

Nearly two years after the major escalation of war in Ukraine, there is no let-up in the death, destruction, forced displacement and human suffering, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as delegates condemned Moscow’s intensified air strikes against civilian targets and critical infrastructure in Ukraine, as well as the continued military support for its war provided by Iran, Belarus and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.