Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS, 30th August – UN Security Council on Thursday held an emergency meeting at the request of the Great Britain to discuss the latest developments and crisis in Gaza and in the West Bank.
WHO said that an agreement had been reached with Israel to allow a mass polio vaccination campaign to get underway through a series of pauses to begin this Sunday.
The Council meeting came after the escalating settler violence in the West Bank alongside an attack against a World Food Programme team in Gaza, which prompted the agency to halt its operations in the Gaza strip until further notice, the agency stated.
UN agency for Palestine refugees continues to coordinate with other UN agencies to deliver much-needed polio vaccines after the eradicated disease reappeared in Gaza.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn head of the WHO office for the West Bank and Gaza told reporters in a press briefing in New York that the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza will start on Sunday, 1 September.
Sigrid Kaag, the Senior UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction in Gaza said in a press briefng at UNRIC Brussels said that “We will be heading towards 41 000 civilian dead in Gaza, it’s a matter of time, I fear”,
She held a meeting with the EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels.
Ms. Kaag said “We know that 2 million people seek shelter in 15 square miles. Most have been displaced multiple times over this 11-months period. The extent of destruction, very important to be seen by international journalists, not just citizens reporting from Gaza, is quite unbelievable if you are confronted with it for the first time. 96 % of the population of 2.1 million is acutely food insecure”.
“The focus of my mission is to engage at the highest level with the Israel government, Kaag stated. I have to always underscore that the cooperation with my mission is good, constructive. We now have the agreement at the highest levels to launch the polio vaccination campaign hopefully this Saturday.”
“The resolution that I have on behalf of the Security Council is on the one hand a political resolution on humanitarian assistance, on the other hand very operational with certain deliverables. I speak all the time with ministers of Foreign Affairs and to the counterparts in the region, but the difficulty that the humanitarian face in war, in conflict, are ability to distribute, the necessity of effective “deconfliction” as it is called It is a war zone and more needs to be done by all parties. There’s no substitute for compliance to international humanitarian law by all parties.”
“It’s not an optimistic tale that I have. It is a story of deep concern over the fate of the hostages and the impact on the Israeli society. The position the UN has always had is about the legitimacy of Israel’s security concerns and at the same time the need, post this crisis, if and when there is a ceasefire, to address and look at the political horizon of the two States solution with a viable independent Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.”
“But Gaza in itself should not be forgotten. I would have a concern that people get used to the fact that there is a huge problem, and there’s always a risk of looking away and thinks “oh well, life goes on”. I see it as the duty of the UN to keep putting the spotlight back again on what the international community can do”.
Sigrid Kaag discussed in Brussels is the planning of EU financial support for the reconstruction of Gaza, even if “we may be very far off of having clarity on the political and security arrangements”.
She discussed the fate of over 12 000 Palestinian civilians that are “severely impacted and war wounded”, and need to be immediately evacuated from Gaza, where they cannot be treated.
“This is a gesture of solidarity, and we should not only ask Egypt, the UAE or Qatar to take on patients. Italy has stepped forward, as well as a number of other countries. It is very good, humane, and practically feasible”.
Sigrid Kaag has shed a new light on those figures, insisting on the importance of other entry points to transport goods from Jordan and not only from Israel.
“Due to lawlessness, criminal activities, even if the trucks arrive in Gaza, it doesn’t mean the goods are received properly. The only metric that ultimately counts is if people have actually received the goods. I fundamentally believe we should never have been counting trucks. I said it at my first Security Council briefing : we need to look at what people need, these are issues of rights and obligations under the international humanitarian law. Trucks are a means of transport, nothing more”.
What Palestinians need in Gaza, Sigrid Kaag stated it is a “ceasefire, safety and security”. “This needs to stop”.
Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, said “the situation in Gaza is beyond desperate.”
She said over 40,000 people have been killed and over 93,000 injured in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and more than 17,000 Palestinian children are unaccompanied or separated from their relatives and guardians. In addition, reports of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel are mounting.
“Already challenged, our humanitarian response is facing unparalleled difficulty,” she said, noted that efforts are under way to deliver humanitarian aid, including much-needed polio vaccines.”In the past week alone, our teams have been displaced and shot at. We have lost offices and warehouses, and limited supplies have continued to dwindle and WFP) colleagues were fired upon two days ago in their marked vehicle and survived by sheer luck,” she stated.
“We cannot plan more than 24 hours in advance because we struggle to know what supplies we will have, when we will have them or where we will be able to deliver,” she said.
“The lives of 2.1 million people cannot depend on luck and hope alone.”
She said that evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military have spiked, with devastating impacts on civilians.
Ms. Msuya noted that 16 of these orders have been issued.
“Between 19 and 24 August alone, five such orders were issued, the largest number of orders issued in a single week since the start of this crisis,” she said.
She added that these orders impacted a quarter of a million people in 33 neighbourhoods in Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis and northern Gaza.
Ms. Msuya welcomed the tireless efforts of Sigrid Kaag, the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator and her engagement with regional states and the Government of Israel to streamline assistance into Gaza under Security Council resolution 2720.
Dr. Mike Ryan, the deputy chief of the WHO in Gaza reminded the Council that the polio virus had reappeared in Palestine for the first time in 25 years.
WHO noted that a 10-month-old boy has been infected. He was born during the conflict and so had not been vaccinated.
Dr. Ryan confirmed to the Council that a two-round polio vaccination campaign would begin this Sunday, 1 September.
He said the “current outbreak in Gaza is a stark reminder of how quickly infectious diseases can re-emerge in regions where health systems are compromised.”
Ryan added that “many other diseases are spreading while our collective capacities to prevent, detect and respond to them continue to be hindered.”
Some 1.26 million doses of vaccines have been delivered to Gaza. 400,000 additional vaccine doses will arrive soon, the agency said.
Over 2,180 health workers and community outreach workers have been trained to provide vaccinations and inform communities about the campaign.
He said their safety “must be guaranteed.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an “immediate cessation” of Israeli military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory as the crisis in the West Bank continues to escalate alongside the ongoing war in Gaza.
British Deputy Permanent Representative James Kariuki said that Israel’s ramping up of short-notice evacuation orders, including in areas that should provide safe refuge, is leaving Palestinians with “no safe place to turn”.
He urged Israel to minimise such orders and provide sufficient notice of at least 48 hours.
Deputy James Kariuki said that this conflict already “represents the deadliest by far for humanitarian personnel,” recalled that the UN confirmed the Israeli Defense Forces opened fire on a WFP vehicle just this week.
He echoed concerns over the polio outbreak and strongly welcomed Israel’s agreement to pause military operations so that WHO and partner health agencies can deliver a safe and effective campaign.
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said that the US has pledged his delegation’s full support for the UN’s polio vaccination campaign, which must be implemented in Gaza without delay.
“We urge Israel to refrain from issuing evacuation orders during the campaign,” he said. “Children’s lives depend on that success.”
He raised concerns about the IDF firing against WFP and UNICEF vehicles, said Israel must take ownership of its mistakes and ensure that its armed forces do not fire against UN personnel again.
Mr. Wood stated all rhetorical attacks on the UN and other humanitarians in Gaza must stop.
He said today’s briefings underscore the need for finalising a ceasefire and hostage release agreement, emphasized that “the time is now.”
Chinese envoy to the UN Geng Shuang emphasised that despite multiple Security Council resolutions and measures announced by the International Court of Justice the situation in Gaza has not improved.
“Rather, it continued to worsen,” he said, noting the ongoing deaths, destruction and displacement.
“Israel continued to further suppress and restrict the UN and other humanitarian organizations, frequently rejecting delivers of supplies such as fuel,” he added.
He noted the threats posed by the outbreak of polio to children in the Strip, stressed that vaccination is the most effective way to stop the spread of the virus.
The virus “knows no borders,” he said,.
He expressed full support for the appeal by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, urged Israel to provide security guarantees and facilitate the vaccination campaign.
By doing so, Israel would be acting in “a responsible manner towards its own children and those of the region”.
Deputy Permanent Representative of Guyana to the UN, Trishala Persaud described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “increasingly catastrophic with each passing day”.
She urged members of the Security Council to work together to ensure the hostilities in Gaza come to an end.
“History will judge us harshly if this Council does not act to save the Palestinian people from the scourge of this unending onslaught in flagrant violation of the [UN] Charter and international law,” she said.
She noted that constant evacuation orders to Palestinians by the Israeli authorities were hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Ms. Persaud Speaking on the current polio situation said that “delaying a humanitarian pause will only increase the risk of it spreading.”
French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Rivière said that the current humanitarian situation is “untenable” as evacuation orders increase, ramping up danger for civilians and constraining aid workers’ effectiveness on the ground,.
He urged Israel to implement an “effective deconfliction system, through humanitarian pauses” and to ensure the “non-negotiable” start of the polio vaccination campaign.
Nicolas de Rivière called on Israel to take “all necessary measures in the face of the unacceptable settler attacks against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank”, noting they were being carried out in violation of international law.
He condemned “all acts of provocation” in Jerusalem as well as in the West Bank, voicing his country’s opposition to “any Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip”.
Nicolas de Rivière reaffirmed French support for US, Egyptian and Qatari mediation efforts and called on all parties to “make the necessary compromises to allow a ceasefire to be put in place”.
Russian deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the Security Council must ensure that the UN and its agencies can continue their work in Gaza.
“All of these words uttered today have transformed into futile cliches,” he said, recalling the devastation of Gaza and suffering of its people as well as the recent incident involving Israeli forces that fired on a UN vehicle.
He said that nearly the entire population needs assistance.
UN agencies are warning that “there is no safe space in Gaza” amid the outbreak of such infectious diseases as polio.
Polyanskiy said that an open-ended sustainable ceasefire is needed.
He added that the international community must demand that Israel end attacks against humanitarian workers.
He stressed that to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza the Security Council must take action using existing tools that are at its disposal. What is missing, he said, is the political will to do so.
Algerian Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Nacim Gaouaoui said that the briefings today reflected the “tragic reality” of international community’s failure to ensure respect for law in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“They clearly show the scale of the brutality the Palestinians are subjected to as a result of an occupation that disregarded all conventions and norms,” he said.
He called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to bring the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” to an end.
Nacim Gaouaoui added that Israeli occupation should be held accountable for its crimes and blatant violations of International Humanitarian La
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