The UN Security Council is set to meet this morning at 10 AM New York time to discuss the catastrophic situation in Gaza. This follows Wednesday’s urgent letter by Secretary-General António Guterres – one of the most powerful tools at his disposal – urging the body to help end carnage in the war-battered enclave with a humanitarian ceasefire.
10:05 AM
The president of the Council has gavelled the meeting to order, and invited the UN chief to speak.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres thanked ambassadors for their response to his invocation of Article 99 saying he had written because “we are at breaking point” in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
“There is a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza, which would have devastating consequences.”
He said public order could completely break down, increasing pressure for mass displacement across the border into Egypt.
“I fear the consequences could be devastating for the security of the entire region”, he said, adding that the Occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, had already been drawn in to the conflict to varying degrees.
There is clearly, in my view, a serious risk of aggravating existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security”.
09:40 AM
Following the discussions, Council members are expected to vote later in the day on a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire as well as an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
The draft resolution also reiterates the demand of the Council for all parties to comply with their obligations under international law, notably with regard to protection of civilians in both Palestine and Israel.
Draft resolutions do not represent an official position of the Security Council until they are adopted.
In his letter the Secretary-General invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, which grants him with the responsibility to “bring to the attention” of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
It was the first time ever that Mr. Guterres had used the rarely invoked clause.
“Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared,” Mr. Guterres wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after dispatching the letter.
The Security Council last discussed the situation in Gaza, in an open doors meeting, on 29 November. Here are the highlights:
- “We need a true humanitarian ceasefire,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, describing a catastrophe on the ground in Gaza and underlining the need to release all hostages
- Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, had “a message that resonates today as we mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: There must be a new and different approach, or we are doomed to return to the path of managing a conflict that clearly cannot be managed”
- Council members, including many ministers, roundly decried the unfolding humanitarian crisis and commended the ongoing pause in fighting, with some calling for the full implementation of its resolution 2712 on the crisis
- “We cannot afford to lose more lives,” said the ambassador of Malta, penholder of resolution 2712, adopted in mid-November following several failed attempts
- Non-Council members echoed those calls, with Qatar’s Prime Minister saying “it is high time to take real measures towards peace; the region will not enjoy peace and security without the establishment of a Palestinian State”
- Israel’s ambassador said the Council has not addressed Hamas’s “central role in the ruin of the region”
- “We are at a historic crossroad,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the observer State of Palestine
