UNSC meet in emergency session, amid starvation in Gaza

UN Security Council in emergency session on Sunday. UN Photo

10 August 2025 - The UN Security Council is meeting in New York following the Israeli cabinet’s decision to again expand its military operation inside the Gaza Strip and take full control of the key population centre of Gaza City. UN chief António Guterres described it as a “dangerous escalation” for the two million civilians trapped in the enclave as well as the remaining Israeli hostages still held captive. 

Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine

The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine stated:  “Israel is killing Palestine in Gaza.”  There, over 2 million victims are enduring unbearable agony that the human mind can barely comprehend.  “We owe them to act now to stop this genocide,” he asserted, pointing to the plan adopted by the International High-Level Conference on Palestine.  It foresees the Palestinian Authority resuming its sole governmental and security duties in the Gaza Strip with regional and international support and Hamas handing over its weapons.  If Israel’s concern was the end of Hamas rule, it would have rallied behind this plan, he stressed. 

However, he continued, Israel is prolonging the war not to disarm Hamas, but to prevent independent Palestinian statehood”.  Its goal is the destruction of the Palestinian people through forced transfer and massacres to facilitate its annexation of their land.  Such illegal and immoral plans require “the mobilization of all the tools available to stop them,” he stressed, asking:  “How on earth is Israel still allowed to sit around this table?”  Addressing the international community, he said:  “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.” 

Moscow Disappointed at Delay in Holding Emergency Meeting

The representative of the Russian Federation expressed disappointment that Panama, Council President for August, “ignored” the request of a majority of Council members — including his country — to convene an emergency meeting immediately, opting instead to hold it today. He said this decision came “despite the extremely dangerous developments on the occupied Palestinian territory following the Israeli leadership’s announcement of a decision to escalate hostilities in the Gaza Strip, envisaging its occupation”.

Recalling that Israel’s foreign minister addressed the Council on 5 August and “shed crocodile tears in this Chamber over the fate of the Israeli hostages”, he alleged that the senior official already knew the Israeli cabinet would soon take this decision, which he claimed essentially ruled out the hostages’ safe return. He added that the visit was intended to “lay the groundwork” and create a media image of Council solidarity to justify continued military action against Palestinians.

‘Council Members Spreading Lies’ about Israel, Her Country: US

The representative of the United States said that “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”.  Her country has been working tirelessly to free the hostages, end the war and give civilians in Gaza a future free of Hamas.

Noting that Israel has accepted three ceasefire proposals while Hamas consistently rejected them, she said that the simple truth is that this war could end today if Hamas let the hostages and all of Gaza go free.

“Remarkably,” she said, “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”. – UN News

Israel’s representative said that his country “has no plans or desire to permanently occupy Gaza”.  Its latest decision is to liberate the Strip from a terror regime.  He cited the five clear principles that the Israeli security cabinet adopted for concluding the war: the disarming of Hamas; the return of all hostages, both living and deceased; the demilitarization 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 or the Palestinian Authority.“This is the only way to ensure a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” he insisted. – UN News