UN Assembly Urges Decisive Action to Resolve Israel-Palestine Conflict

A Palestinian flag flies over the ruins of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The President of the UN General Assembly called on Tuesday for stronger action to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people and achieve a two-State solution with Israel.

Annalena Baerbock spoke at an Assembly plenary meeting where countries debated a resolution affirming the UN’s responsibility for the question of Palestine.

“For 78 years the Palestinian people have been denied their inalienable rights, particularly the right to self-determination,” she said. “Now, it is high time we take decisive action to end this decades-long stalemate.”

Gaza war and West Bank violence

Ms. Baerbock said the atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023 “set off one of the darkest chapters in this conflict.” She described the immense devastation and suffering in Gaza after two years of war, with thousands killed, countless injured, communities starving, civilian infrastructure destroyed, and almost the entire population displaced.

Hostages have been released and reunited with their families, while others mourn the bodies returned. She warned that settlement expansion, demolitions, and increased settler violence in the West Bank continue to undermine prospects for a sovereign, independent, and viable Palestinian state.

Two sovereign states

“All that has happened in the last two years underscores what we have known for decades: the Israeli–Palestinian conflict cannot be resolved through illegal occupation, annexation, forced displacement, recurrent terror, or permanent war,” she said.

“Israelis and Palestinians will only live in lasting peace, security, and dignity when they coexist as two sovereign and independent states, with mutually recognized borders and full regional integration.”

This vision is outlined in the New York Declaration and UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (2025), which endorsed the US-proposed ‘Comprehensive Plan to End the Conflict in Gaza.’

Ceasefire and humanitarian aid

“We need to ensure the ceasefire is consolidated and becomes a permanent end to hostilities,” she added, noting that at least 67 children have been killed since the fragile truce began.

She stressed that aid must be delivered throughout Gaza safely and unhindered, fully respecting international humanitarian law, including through the UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA.

“As outlined in the International Court of Justice advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations, allowing UNRWA to fulfil its mandate is not merely a gesture of goodwill—it is a legal obligation,” she said.

Right to self-determination

Ms. Baerbock emphasized that achieving peace, stability, and justice in the Middle East requires active engagement by the UN and all Member States.

“Self-determination, and the right to live in one’s own state in peace, security, and dignity, free from war, occupation, and violence, is not a privilege to be earned but a right to be upheld,” she concluded.