The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss Gaza, specifically Israel’s new plan to seize control of Gaza City.
Aug. 10 The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss Gaza and the Middle East, specifically Israel’s plan announced Friday to seize control of Gaza City.
The Sunday meeting of the U.N. Security Council was called for by Britain, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia. It did not place a resolution on the table, a measure that the United States has used its veto power to block five times previously, but saw condemnation of Israel’s plans for Gaza City.
Miroslav Jenca, the assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and Americas in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, opened the meeting with a briefing about the conditions on the ground in Gaza, including mass starvation.
Jenca said the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, placing 2 million Palestinians in “even greater peril” while the plan would further endanger the lives of the remaining captives taken by Hamas.
“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 territories”, Jenca said.
Jenca revealed that the Israeli government foresees the displacement of all Palestinians from Gaza City by October 7, 2025, affecting some 800,000 people, many of them previously displaced.
“Reports indicate the IDF would then surround the city for three months, this would then reportedly be followed by an additional two months to seize control of central Gaza’s camps and clear the entire area of Palestinian armed groups”, he said.
Ramesh Rajasingham, the head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, then gave the council a briefing where he said Palestinians have endured daily killings and injuries for over 670 days.
Rajasingham, in his briefing, condemned the taking of hostages by Hamas as well as the detention of thousands of Palestinians including women and children who remain in Israeli prisons, many held without charge or trial. He also criticized what he called Israel’s “smear campaigns” against aid organizations.
The Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs released a report Sunday which said that Israel detained at least 662 people, including 39 children and 12 women in July alone, bringing the total number of arrests in the West Bank since the war began to 18,500. Some 570 of those detained have been women and 1,500 are children, according to the commission.
The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a video Sunday showing footage of an Israeli settler shooting and killing the activist Awdah Hathaleen in the West Bank. The footage was filmed by Hathaleen himself, and documents just one incident of violence faced by Palestinians in the West Bank.
“Humanitarian conditions are behind horrific”, Rajasingham said. “Whatever lifelines remain are collapsing under the weight of sustained hostilities, forced displacement and insufficient levels of lifesaving aid. Hunger deaths are rising, especially among children.”
Rajasingham said health authorities in Gaza have documented the deaths of 90 children from acute malnutrition, including 37 alone since July 1.
