UNITED NATIONS, Dec 30 (APP): A senior UN official warned of the risk of a spillover of the conflict in Gaza with \u201cdevastating consequences\u201d for the entire region as the UN Security Council again met on Friday to discuss the grave situations in the Middle East. The 15-member Council met at the request of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a non-permanent member, with Emirati Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh underscoring the need to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict to be complemented by an international presence to monitor the ceasefire for it to hold.<\/p>\n
The meeting follows a resolution adopted last week by the Security Council calling for a scale-up in aid deliveries to civilians in the Gaza Strip. The resolution passed with 13 votes in favour, and the US and Russia abstaining. But Friday\u2019s meeting ended after listening to members, without taking any action. Briefing the Security Council, Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, said that the situation in the Middle East is alarming and continues to deteriorate, including \u201cseveral interconnected theatres conflict\u201d. He noted \u201cintense\u201d Israeli ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas and other groups in most areas of Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cCivilians from both sides, particularly in the Gaza strip currently, continue to bear the brunt of this conflict,\u201d he said. Reiterating the Secretary-General\u2019s call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, Khiari warned that the risk of regional spillover of this conflict with potential devastating consequences for the entire region \u201cremains high\u201d given also a multitude of actors involved. He informed Council members of \u201ccontinued daily exchanges\u201d of fire across the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, posing a \u201cgrave risk\u201d to regional stability. \u201cIncreasingly, there have been strikes on civilian areas, with civilian casualties, on both sides of the Blue Line, in addition to a rising number of fatalities among combatants,\u201d he added. Khiari also noted attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria, with the US conducting some airstrikes against groups suspected of these actions in Iraq and Syria. He also cited reports of Israeli air strikes inside Syria, as well as tensions in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n
Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, voiced \u201cdeep concerns\u201d over escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In his remarks, he noted \u201cintensified armed exchanges\u201d between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, predominantly in the context of Israeli operations, which led to exceedingly high levels of fatalities and arrests. Wennesland also expressed alarm at lethal attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and by Palestinians against Israelis in the occupied West Bank and Israel. \u201cAll perpetrators of violence must be held accountable and swiftly brought to justice,\u201d he stressed. Majed Bamya, Deputy Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine addressed the Security Council, stating that the killing of Palestinian civilians is \u201cnot a collateral effect\u201d of war.<\/p>\n
United Nations Majed Bamya, Deputy Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine, said that the Israeli assault relies, by design, on the mass and indiscriminate killing of civilians. \u201cThe humanitarian catastrophe is not the consequence of the war, it is a tool employed by Israel to pressure people and force them out,\u201d the Palestinian envoy said. He went on to note that the Council has called for the protection of civilians and for immediate, safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access to deliver assistance throughout the Gaza Strip, for respect for the laws of laws, and that it has rejected forced displacement. \u201cAll of which require an immediate ceasefire that this Council has been prevented to call for, repeatedly,\u201d Bamya said, noting that Israel has reacted with \u201cdisregard and disdain.\u201d \u201cWhy are they getting away with murder at this unprecedented scale,\u201d he said, adding \u201cBecause they were never held accountable.\u201d \u201cThat is why they confess to their crimes, that is why steal our lives, our land, our resources, our money, our past, our present and our future in broad daylight,\u201d the Palestinian envoy said. John Kelley, Minister-Counsellor at the United States Mission to the UN, said that his country shared the concern regarding the \u201csharp increase\u201d in violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank and the \u201cunprecedented\u201d number of Palestinian fatalities there as well as in Gaza. \u201cWe know 2023 has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank,\u201d he said. \u201cThe United States continues to stress to the Israeli Government the importance of preventing extremist settler violence as well as investigating and holding accountable those who comment acts of violence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Kelley also noted that the US will continue to implement visa restrictions, announced on 5 December, targeting individuals believed to have been \u201cinvolved in or meaningfully contributed\u201d to undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank. \u201cThese restrictions reinforce the US\u2019 long-held belief advancing settlements in the West Bank undermines the prospects of a future Palestinian State and a two-State solution, as do any actions that undermine stability in the West Bank, including attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks against Israelis,\u201d he said. \u201cLet us be clear, a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace, is the path to peace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 30 (APP): A senior UN official warned of the risk of a spillover of the conflict in Gaza with \u201cdevastating consequences\u201d for the entire region as the UN Security Council again met on Friday to discuss the grave situations in the Middle […]<\/p>\n
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