Today's Edition
NEW YORK CITY (ALETIHAD)
Her Excellency Lana Nusseibeh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York, delivered the UAE Statement at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, Including the Palestinian Question, reiterating the UAE’s call for safe, sustained, and at-scale humanitarian access throughout the entire Gaza strip and encouraging all efforts to achieve that goal.
Nusseibeh reminded that the 47-day-long war in Gaza has reached a critical turning point. Expressing the scale and impact of the conflict, she noted that the war is taking place in a very small, yet very densely populated area.
“This tiny area is home to families who have spent decades trying to build normal lives as a community, despite repeated wars and displacement, and amidst an ongoing blockade,” she said, adding that within the Strip, 12,000 locations were subjected to airstrikes, including schools, hospitals, and refugee camps.
Reminding that women and children are disproportionately impacted by the conflict, she expressed distress that “children have become orphans, mothers have become childless, inter-generational families have been wiped out altogether”, calling the targeting “the largest indiscriminate aerial bombardment we have witnessed in the recent history of warfare”.
“It can therefore be no surprise to anyone that more than two-thirds of around 14,000 Palestinian fatalities are women and children,” she added.
Nusseibeh noted that the people of Israel have also grieved the “unfathomable trauma” of children being taken hostage, many civilians being killed, and women being tortured and sexually violated, calling for an investigation that would hold the perpetrators accountable.
Taking into account the alarming rise in both Islamophobia and antisemitism, Nusseibeh warned that the conflict threatens to “unleash forces that destabilise all of us” and called for increased efforts to combat the rising tide of hatred.
The UAE welcomed the announcement of the agreed release of 50 women and children held hostage in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian women and children detained in Israel, and the allowance of additional aid to enter Gaza, expressing hope that the temporary truce could be extended.
She stressed that the truce did not come in time to save the lives of many humanitarian workers, expressing the UAE’s condolences to the UN who have lost over 100 colleagues in this war.
Emphasising the many international law violations that have occurred during this war, she noted that there should be “no justification for attacks that imperil large groups of civilians, especially women and children”.
Discussing the situation in the West Bank, Her Excellency noted the growing restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinian’s freedom of movement, underlining that they hinder women’s ability to provide for their families, impede access to critical services such as medical care, and interrupt children’s access to education.
“The number of Palestinians killed there since this latest round of the conflict in Gaza by extremist settlers, including 53 children, are another indicator that extreme ideologies are being mainstreamed today. This includes some Israeli government statements calling for the forced transfer of the Palestinian population. This must stop. Misinformation can lead to grave miscalculation, and all government leaders are accountable for that,” Nusseibeh stressed.
Her Excellency called for women’s “full, equal and meaningful participation in negotiating and working towards the two-state solution”, describing it as critical for securing a lasting and sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians and noting that only a ceasefire would prevent further violence and suffering.
She reiterated the UAE’s call for safe, sustained, and at-scale humanitarian access throughout the entire Gaza Strip, noting that the country will encourage all efforts to that end.
“I would like to urge my colleagues to be creative and to break out of the paralysis of the status quo approach. Prioritising efforts to stop the violence and to work towards the long-term resolution to this conflict is the only rational strategy to ensure security and stability,” Nusseibeh said.
