UN Security Council holds emergency session on expansion of Gaza military operation

In an emergency meeting requested by the UK, France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece, ambassadors to the United Nations have met in the Security Council at UN headquarters in New York City on Sunday.

The debate, focussing on the situation in the Middle East and in the Gaza Strip in particular, elicited a passionate and controversial exchange.

In his opening briefing, Miroslav Jenča, Assistant UN Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, warned that the Israeli government's plan for an expanded military operation in Gaza might have wide-ranging repercussions:

“The latest decision by the Government of Israel risks igniting another horrific chapter in this conflict, with potential consequences beyond Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, conceding that "for now, we have limited official details of Israel’s military plans”.

"If these plans are implemented they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region, and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction, compounding the unbearable suffering of the population," he added.

'Wrong decision'

James Kariuki, the UK's deputy permanent representative to the UN, urged the Israeli government to reverse its decision to expand its military offensive in Gaza:

“This decision is wrong,” he said, as expanding military operations will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict. “This is not a path to resolution. It is a path to more bloodshed.” 

He added that many family members of the hostages have warned this decision "will do nothing to secure the return of the hostages – instead, it risks further endangering their lives”.

However, he also stated that his country is clear that Hamas must disarm and can play no future part in the governance of Gaza, where the Palestinian Authority must have a central role.

Sandra Jensen Landi, Denmark's deputy permanent representative stressed the humanitarian crisis:

“For months, the world has watched in despair as conditions in Gaza have grown more catastrophic by the day”.

“This is unconscionable,” she asserted, deploring the killing of starving civilians trying to get food:  “The alarming frequency and scale of these incidents are simply unacceptable,” she stressed, calling for transparent investigations into these incidents. “We urge the warring parties to stop burying peace in the rubble,” Jensen Landi stated.

'Actively rewarding Hamas intransigence'

By contrast, the US representative, Tammy Bruce, accused governments critical of Israel's actions of aiding Hamas:

“Today’s meeting is emblematic of the counterproductive role that far too many governments on this Council and throughout the UN system have played on this issue”, she claimed, adding that “instead of pressuring Hamas, members of this body have encouraged and rewarded its intransigence actively, prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the United States, and by handing propaganda victories to terrorists”.

Israel's representative confirmed statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made earlier on Sunday that his country “has no plans or desire to permanently occupy Gaza”.  Rather, its latest decision was meant to liberate the Strip from a terror regime.

He said Israel's security cabinet adopted five principles to end the war: "the disarming of Hamas; the return of all hostages, both living and deceased; the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; and the establishment of a non-Israeli, peaceful civil administration governed neither by Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, claimed that Israel is not prolonging the war to disarm Hamas but to "prevent Palestinian statehood", and, addressing the international community, added that “your actions today will determine the fate of millions of people tomorrow, at least those who would have survived by then, and the fate of our region for generations to come”.