Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN at the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question.
President, the UK supported the call for this meeting today, to discuss the urgent steps needed to address an ever-growing humanitarian tragedy in Gaza.
The situation in northern Gaza is harrowing. Approximately 400,000 Gazans have been ordered to evacuate the north and move southwards to the IDF designated humanitarian zone. Many of these people will already have been displaced, some many times over, and are desperately searching for refuge.
But there are no safe places in Gaza. Just this week we saw horrifying images following the Israeli strike on Al-Aqsa hospital, inside the IDF designated humanitarian zone.
Those who decide to move face intimidation, active fighting zones and the threat of continued airstrikes. Those who stay face extreme hunger and appalling conditions, without access to basic services or healthcare.
In the first half of October, no food aid was delivered to northern Gaza, with Israeli authorities denying or impeding the vast majority of humanitarian movements between north and south. We expect October to see the least aid enter Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, lower even more than September.
Families in Gaza are facing a second winter with even less resilience and fewer resources. This is unconscionable.
Israel must comply fully with international humanitarian law and ensure sufficient aid reaches all parts of Gaza. We also reiterate our concern at legislative proposals seeking to undermine UNRWA, which is vital to the humanitarian response in Gaza.
Let me be clear. Northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south. Palestinian civilians, including those evacuated from northern Gaza, must be permitted to return to their communities and rebuild. There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from or within Gaza, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip.
We need to see an immediate ceasefire, to bring this devastating conflict to an end.
President, we must also hold in the front of our minds, the unthinkable suffering of the 101 hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza. Their ordeal has gone on for far too long. Once again, we call on Hamas to release the hostages immediately and unconditionally.
And as we know, the suffering in the region goes beyond Gaza. We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. All parties must take measures to avoid civilian casualties, and ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel.
And in the West Bank, as my Foreign Secretary has said, we urge the Israeli Government to take action to crack down on settler violence and to stop settler expansion on Palestinian land.
That is why yesterday, my Government announced further sanctions against three illegal settler outposts and four organisations in order to bring accountability to those who perpetrate such heinous human rights abuses against Palestinians.
President, the Palestinian people, the Israeli people, and the region as a whole, deserve a better reality than the daily cycle of violence and fear to which they have become accustomed. But there is a path to peace. One which would see a safe and secure Palestinian state, beside a safe and secure Israel.
We urge the parties to be courageous and to take the path towards peace and a better future for their people.