(Photo Palestinian Interior Ministry Handout)
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency session on Sunday evening in which it demanded an immediate ceasefire and respect for international law, expressing “serious concern”, over the escalation of the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana, who currently has the Security Council’s rotating presidency for July, told reporters that the council “had a sober meeting”, as reported by the United Nations News Centre.
The United Nation’s Under Secretary General Jeffery Feltman stated at the outset of the meeting that “Israel had legitimate security concerns”, but was “shocked”, by Israel’s response, which cost the lives of hundreds of Palestinians, including many children.
He also highlighted the “significant difference” of this year’s situation in Gaza from the last assault Israel launched against Gaza in 2012.
The number of displaced Palestinians in Gaza has reached approximately 83,000 people. This was “unprecedented and unheard of” for the United Nation’s Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is now providing around 60 shelters for the displaced people in Gaza.
“This figure far exceeds the number seeking refuge with us in the 2008/9 conflict and it is continuing to rise,” UNRWA spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The UNRWA now has a “desperate need for non-food items” and medicine to provide to the large number of displaced people.
The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 500 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes and artillery assaults. On Sunday alone, Israel killed at least 66 people in what Gaza medics called “a massacre” in the Shujaiyya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza, according to the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an.
A Gaza resident said that people are in dire need of assistance, describing the humanitarian situation inside the strip as “chaotic”.
“People can’t find Iftar [sunset Ramadan meal] to break their fasts after they were displaced from their homes,” the resident said. “And unfortunately, all international institutions are despicable,” he added as he condemned the institutions for their inaction.
The Palestinian representative in the Security Council meeting stressed that the “Palestinian Authority fully participated in the efforts for a ceasefire.”
He also called upon the council to implement previously adopted resolutions on the Palestine/Israel conflict as well as adopt a new resolution condemning Israel’s military aggression and calling to end the blockade in Gaza.
The Israeli ambassador in the meeting stated that Israel had done “everything they could” to avoid the current situation.
The ambassador for the UK also condemned rockets fired against Israel from Gaza and stated that Israel “is exercising its right to self-defense”.
Meanwhile, the United States said it was “deeply concerned”, and said that although “Hamas had wasted the previous options for a ceasefire the United States would accelerate its efforts to stop the crisis”.
The UN ambassador also quoted President Obama’s “strong support for Israel’s right to self-defense, as well as his prayer to limit suffering in Gaza by the de-escalation of the violence”.
The UN’s Human Rights Council announced that they are set to meet on 23 July to discuss the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian territories.
