While the global community should prioritize its support for Gaza’s reconstruction in the wake of the violence that erupted there in May, a senior United Nations official also urged the Security Council not to “lose sight of the broader goal” — namely, ending the Israeli occupation and realizing a two-State solution — as she briefed the organ during its quarterly open debate on the Middle East today.
The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon expressed deep regret over the inability of Lebanon’s leaders to reach agreement on the formation of a new Government that is urgently needed to address the country’s numerous challenges.
Humanitarian officials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said the entry of goods into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing remains limited, and some 250,000 people are still without regular access to piped water. They called for a return to the predictable entry of goods and the easing of movement restrictions.
The World Meteorological Organization and its partners today released the first Hydromet Gap report, which states that an estimated 23,000 lives could be saved annually and at least $162 billion per year in potential benefits could be realized by improving weather forecasts, early warning systems, and climate information.
Home demolitions, evictions and the denial of citizenship are just some of the ways Israel has pursued its systematic policy of “demographic engineering” over 54 years, participants in the International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem said today, raising questions about how Palestinians can pursue justice — let alone live secure lives — in the face of international inaction.
In Myanmar, the United Nations team remains very concerned about the humanitarian situation. Some 230,000 people have been forced to flee their home due to clashes between the military and ethnic armed groups, or among ethnic armed groups, since the military takeover of the Government on 1 February.
The new Israeli Government must cease its settlement activity and all sides must exercise maximum restraint to preserve the fragile ceasefire which ended 11 days of bloodshed in May, a senior official told the Security Council today, as members called for the cessation of all measures designed to alter the demographic composition, character and status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Clashes in northern Mozambique are driving one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), says with the number of people who have fled their homes in Cabo Delgado having surged by nearly 650 per cent in 2020, and more than 732,000 people currently displaced.
United Nations staff in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are closely monitoring developments in Goma, where state authorities decided on 26 May to evacuate 10 districts on the heels of the Nyiragongo Volcano eruption. Tens of thousands are leaving the area amid an already challenging humanitarian situation.
While the 21 May ceasefire is holding, Council members heard today that, following eleven days of the most intense hostilities in years, the 15-member organ must take concrete action to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine, breaking the vicious cycle of disregarded resolutions and recurring violence and transcending the hollow peace process that has failed civilians on both sides.
Delegates welcomed the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and urged stakeholders to use the agreement as an opportunity to reopen dialogue and address the root causes of the conflict, as the General Assembly wrapped up its special debate on the situation in the Middle East this morning.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is working to restore normalcy following the eruption of La Soufrière volcano in April, with efforts shifting from providing aid to recovering better and boosting preparedness for the hurricane season, which starts next week. Of the 23,000 displaced people, more than 4,000 are in shelters; 18,000 are in private homes.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Zhang Jun (China):
The World Health Organization today said that more than 1.2 million people urgently need health assistance in Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, where recent armed attacks sparked further population displacement and deepened a protracted humanitarian crisis.
With the Security Council unable to respond to the worst round of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in years, and as welcome news of a ceasefire agreement broke, speakers in the General Assembly today demanded an immediate halt to the violence and intensified efforts to restart peace talks that advance a two‑State solution to a conflict nearly as old as the United Nations itself.
The current volatile moment in the Israel-Palestine conflict must be used to mobilize political will and ensure accountability for Israel’s violations, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People heard today amid calls for a ceasefire in the region.
The Secretary-General welcomed the beginning of consultations between Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville government, following a referendum on Bougainville’s political future held in 2019. The consultations mark an “important step” in the implementation of the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement.
As fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza broke furiously into its seventh day, foreign ministers in the Security Council today called unequivocally for an immediate end to the bloodshed, sounding alarm bells over the imminent potential for the violence to spill into the wider region.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, today:
The Organization released today $65 million for the humanitarian response in Ethiopia, comprising $45 million from the United Nations-managed Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund and $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund, as the security situation in Tigray remains volatile.
