<\/p>\n
29 June 2026<\/p>\n
SC\/16401<\/p>\n
10186th Meeting (AM)<\/p>\n
Despite the ceasefire announced eight months ago, humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip remain bleak, with 70\u00a0per\u00a0cent of the population lacking dignified housing, sanitation systems destroyed and Israel still blocking much of the food and medical aid required to meet Palestinian residents\u2019 \u201cimmense\u201d needs, a senior ±¬ÁÏÍø official told the Security Council today.<\/p>\n
\u201cGaza still faces profound uncertainty and immense human suffering,\u201d said Ramiz Alakbarov, who serves as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and ±¬ÁÏÍø Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator.<\/p>\n
Mr.\u00a0Alakbarov briefed the 15-member Council alongside two civil society experts, delivering a quarterly update on the implementation of\u00a0resolution 2334 (2016)<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a landmark text which declared that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were illegal under international law.<\/p>\n However, he also focused much of his briefing on the implementation of\u00a0resolution 2803 (2025)<\/a>, through which the Council\u00a0endorsed<\/a>\u00a0the United States-facilitated Comprehensive Peace Plan in Gaza in October\u00a02025 and authorized the deployment of an international stabilization force.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legitimate needs, concerns and aspirations of the people of Gaza must be addressed through the full implementation of [that resolution],\u201d stressed the Deputy Special Coordinator. \u00a0Instead, the situations in both Gaza and the West Bank have remained volatile. \u00a0Israeli air strikes and military operations have continued across Gaza, resulting in further fatalities and bringing the total killed since the ceasefire to over\u00a01,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, he said, Israeli forces continue to expand their territorial control, now holding approximately 70\u00a0per\u00a0cent of the Strip.\u00a0 \u201cThis encroachment of areas under Israeli control is reducing the space available to civilians,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cPalestinians in Gaza are concentrated in increasingly limited areas, living amid insecurity and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Noting improvements in the humanitarian situation in Gaza since the signing of the ceasefire, he said the share of households going to bed hungry dropped from 92\u00a0per\u00a0cent to 36\u00a0per\u00a0cent.\u00a0 More humanitarian access has been granted.\u00a0\u201cBut [\u2026] the needs in Gaza remain immense,\u201d he stressed, warning that 70\u00a0per\u00a0cent of the population still lacks dignified shelter and sanitation conditions are alarming.<\/p>\n Turning to the West Bank, where the situation continues to deteriorate, he said Israeli military activity continued in Jenin, displacing Palestinians.\u00a0 He voiced concern over escalating violence in the West Bank, adding: \u00a0\u201cI am appalled at the numerous instances in which officials glorified violence and engaged in dangerous provocations, incitement and inflammatory language.\u201d<\/p>\n Outlining several important developments on the political front \u2014 including a recent Palestinian Authority decree committing to holding presidential elections in\u00a02027 \u2014 he strongly condemned Israel\u2019s plan to establish military facilities at the Sheikh Jarrah compound of the ±¬ÁÏÍø Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East\u00a0(±¬ÁÏÍøRWA), in East Jerusalem, and urged it to rescind that decision.<\/p>\n Itay Epshtain,\u00a0<\/strong>Special Advisor on International Law and Humanitarian Principles for the Norwegian Refugee Council, also briefed the Council.\u00a0He stressed that, in the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, several phenomena are occurring which are \u201ctoo often treated separately\u201d \u2014 settlement-expansion and settler violence; demolitions and displacement; the obstruction of humanitarian relief and the fragmentation of Palestinian governance.<\/p>\n Together, he said, those converging trends create a system of coercion in which \u201csettler violence forms part of the broader architecture through which territory is unlawfully acquired and controlled\u201d.\u00a0 Indeed, more than 70\u00a0per\u00a0cent of displaced households identified threats against women and children, including sexualized threats and gender-based harassment, as decisive in their decision to flee.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, he went on, Israel\u2019s land title settlement process \u2014 which \u201cmay sound technical\u201d \u2014 uses arbitrary and unlawful planning rules to turn unrecognized Palestinian ownership records into a tool of dispossession.\u00a0What Council resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016) framed as a call upon States has, since\u00a02024, \u201cacquired the character of a judicially endorsed legal obligation\u201d.<\/p>\n Against that backdrop, he called for the restitution of homes, orchards and olive groves to their rightful owners, compensation when restitution is impossible and the protection communities at risk of forcible transfer \u201cbefore they are uprooted, not only assistance after injury is felt\u201d.<\/p>\n Also addressing the Council via videoconference was Mariam Barghoutti, an independent journalist, writer and political analyst, who said she represents that testimony of countless voices that are rarely able to enter the ±¬ÁÏÍø\u2019s chambers \u201cexcept as statistics\u201d.\u00a0 She described a reality in which, every day, Palestinians go to school, work, family gatherings, weddings and funerals while being relentlessly threatened by armed Israeli violence.<\/p>\n She recalled that she witnessed first hand Israeli soldiers in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem denying \u2014 at gunpoint \u2014 pregnant Palestinian women access to hospitals \u201cjust a few metres away\u201d.\u00a0 An Israeli soldier in the town of Silwad was caught on camera, after shooting a Palestinian teenager, saying: \u00a0\u201cThank God, he is dead now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the lives of Palestinians day in and day out,\u201d she said. \u00a0While there is a tendency for Israeli representatives to describe settlement-expansion as \u201cextremist\u201d or \u201cexceptional\u201d, the facts on the ground reveal coordinated actions aimed at systemic ethnic cleaning in the West Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a war being waged on a community that is depleted of socioeconomic and medical capacity to \u2014 at a very bare minimum \u2014 stay alive,\u201d she stressed, emphasizing that it threatens a viable solution for Palestinian self-determination while replacing Palestinians themselves \u201cin real time\u201d.<\/p>\n Council members also took the floor to share their views.<\/p>\n \u201cRegrettably, what we have heard today gives us no cause for optimism,\u201d said the representative of the Russian Federation.\u00a0 Warning that resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016) is not just being ignored but openly violated, she declared: \u00a0\u201cSettler violence is systemic and [Israel\u2019s] judicial and law enforcement system is failing to take meaningful steps to address it.\u201d\u00a0 Turning to Gaza, she said resolution\u00a02803\u00a0(2025) \u201chas unfortunately remained on paper only\u201d, and there is currently no basis upon which to speak about a lasting peace.<\/p>\n China\u2019s representative agreed, while also echoing grave concerns about the tensions gripping the West Bank and the erosion of a two-State solution.\u00a0 \u201cThe international community must end this negative trajectory with robust action,\u201d he stressed.\u00a0 Peace must be restored in Gaza, with all the parties \u2014 especially Israel \u2014 complying with the terms of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is likely that this is the most critical juncture at which the Occupied Palestinian Territory has stood in decades,\u201d said Colombia\u2019s delegate, Council President for June, speaking in her national capacity.\u00a0 The scale and speed at which Israel has adopted new annexation measures \u201cleave little margin for ambiguity\u201d.\u00a0 Coupled with the destruction in Gaza, they would erase the very possibility of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State, she warned.<\/p>\n The representatives of Denmark, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Panama also noted that the situation on the ground in Gaza remains far from that envisioned under the Comprehensive Peace Plan.\u00a0 \u201cThe protection of the civilian population is, and must remain, an obligation that is binding upon all parties,\u201d said the latter, spotlighting the severe impacts of Gaza\u2019s ongoing humanitarian crisis on children and young people.<\/p>\n Those speakers, among others, also echoed the briefers\u2019 concerns over the rapidly worsening situation in the West Bank, and its implications for a broader peace.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael\u2019s increased settlement-expansion [\u2026] deliberately fragments the West Bank and undermines the viability of a two-State solution,\u201d said Latvia\u2019s delegate.\u00a0 Condemning settler violence, she also encouraged the Board of Peace and the mediators to push harder to implement the Comprehensive Peace Plan. \u00a0\u201cAll parties must abide by the commitments they have made,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Noting that Council resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016) calls for measures to reverse negative trends in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the representative of France said his country \u2014 alongside European partners \u2014 has adopted new sanctions against those responsible for violence in settlements.<\/p>\n The representative of Pakistan, echoed by Liberia\u2019s delegate, decried Israel\u2019s controversial new project to carve out isolated West Bank enclaves and make a Palestinian State impossible.\u00a0 He pointed to an \u201cecosystem of occupation\u201d where settlement expansion, annexation, demolitions, forced evictions and displacement are mutually reinforcing and enabled by military and legal means.<\/p>\n The representative of the United Kingdom joined others in sounding the alarm over Israel\u2019s continued settlement-expansion, while citing an average of six attacks against Palestinians every day in the West Bank since the start of\u00a02026. \u00a0Somalia\u2019s delegate, meanwhile, pointed out that \u201cthe humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the deterioration in the West Bank are not separate crises\u201d, but, rather, different manifestations of the same culture of impunity.<\/p>\n Several speakers, however, voiced more optimism about the situation \u2014 especially against the backdrop of the Comprehensive Plan for Peace.<\/p>\n \u201cLife is starting again in Gaza,\u201d said the representative of the United States, recounting a story of a young girl who walked into a temporary school in Gaza after two years of war and received a bag of school supplies.\u00a0 \u201cWe must turn this ceasefire, as imperfect as it is [\u2026] into a lasting peace.\u201d\u00a0However, the only way the peace plan will move forward is if Hamas disarms and ends its intimidation campaigns against Palestinians who oppose it, he stressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first phase of the [Comprehensive Peace] Plan marked a welcome step forward, with early positive results,\u201d said Greece\u2019s delegate, while acknowledging that the humanitarian reality on the ground remains \u201ccatastrophic\u201d.\u00a0 Bahrain\u2019s delegate, while also looking forward to the Plan\u2019s full implementation, nevertheless emphasized that any peace must start with an independent Palestinian State.<\/p>\n \u201cAnnexation is an act of war,\u201d said the Permanent Observer of Palestine, who also addressed the Council, adding: \u00a0\u201cIt kills all peace efforts.\u201d\u00a0 Israel has decided to entrench its occupation, rather than end it, both in Gaza and the West Bank.\u00a0 \u201cThese policies\u201d \u2014 meant to isolate communities from each other \u2014 \u201ccome at a heavy price for Palestinian communities and Palestinian families\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s delegate, meanwhile, regretted that the Council remains on \u201canti-Israel autopilot\u201d in its quarterly meetings.\u00a0 Again and again, Hamas makes a claim that is repeated by non-governmental organizations and then rubber-stamped by the ±¬ÁÏÍø. \u00a0Against that backdrop, he urged the Council to put its pressure where it belongs \u2014 on Hamas, not on Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 29 June 2026 SC\/16401 10186th Meeting (AM) Despite the ceasefire announced eight months ago, humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip remain bleak, with 70\u00a0per\u00a0cent of the population lacking dignified housing, sanitation systems destroyed and Israel still blocking much of the food and medical aid required to meet Palestinian residents\u2019 \u201cimmense\u201d needs, a senior ±¬ÁÏÍø 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in Gaza Immense<\/strong><\/h4>\n
System of Coercion in Occupied Palestinian Territory<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Journalist Account of Palestinian Lives under Occupation, Violence<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Delegates Debate Situations in West Bank, Gaza<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Calls Mount to Stop Israel\u2019s Settlement-Expansion<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Way Forward for US-Led Gaza Peace Plan<\/strong><\/h4>\n