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""Mr President let me start with what we see and are mandated by this council to report Israel is deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory. For more than 10 weeks nothing has entered Gaza. No food medicine water or tents. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have again been forcibly displaced and confined into ever shrinking spaces as 70% of Gaza's territory is either within Israeli militarized zones or under displacement orders. As my colleague from the FAO will explain every single one of the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face the risk of famine. One in five face starvation despite the fact that you have funded the food that could save them"...
"The few hospitals that have somehow survived bombardment are overwhelmed. The medics who have somehow survived drone and sniper attacks cannot keep up with the trauma and the spread of disease. Even today the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis was bombed again with even more civilian casualties reported"...
"I can tell you from having visited what's left of Gaza's medical system that death on this scale has a sound and a smell that does not leave you. As one hospital worker described it children scream as we peel burnt fabric from their skin And yet we hear that we did all we could "...
"A reminder that Israel also has clear obligations under international humanitarian law. It must treat civilians humanely with respect for their inherent human dignity. It must not forcibly transfer, deport or displace the civilian population of an occupied territory. As the occupying power it must agree to aid and facilitate it. So for anyone still pretending to be in any doubt the Israeli designed distribution modality is not the answer. It practically excludes many including people with disabilities, women, children the elderly the wounded. It forces further displacement. It exposes thousands of people to harm. It sets an unacceptable precedent for aid delivery not just in the OPT but around the world. It restricts aid to only one part of Gaza while leaving leaving other dire needs unmet. It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip It is a cynical sideshow a deliberate distraction a fig leaf for further violence and displacement. If any of that still matters have no part in it"...
"Mr President it's not just Gaza Appalling violence is also increasing in the West Bank where the situation is the worst in decades the use of heavy weaponry, military methods of war, excessive force, forcible displacement, demolitions and movement restrictions, ongoing illegal settlement expansion, entire communities destroyed, refugee camps depopulated, settlements expanding and settler violence continuing at alarming levels sometimes with the support of Israeli forces. Recently settlers abducted a 13-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother They were found tied to a tree Do we also say to them that we did all we could"...
" Mr President there is I fear a broader context here. For the past 19 months Palestinian journalists civil society and individuals have live streamed their destruction to the world. Many have been targeted and killed for their testimony. And during this time international aid workers have been the only international civilian presence in Gaza watching and reporting the unfolding horror. We are your eyes and your ears and be in no doubt that we feel the weight of that responsibility to you to the communities we serve and to the world. And so we have briefed this council in great detail on the extensive civilian harm that we witness daily. Death, injury destruction, hunger, disease, torture other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment, repeated displacement on a large scale We have described the deliberate obstruction of aid operations and the systematic dismantling of Palestinian life and that which sustains it in Gaza. So you have that information and now the ICJ is considering whether a genocide is taking place in Gaza It will weigh the testimony that we have shared but it will be too late. Recognizing the urgency the ICJ has indicated clear provisional measures that must be implemented now. Yet they have not been"...
"Previous reviews of the UN's conduct in cases of large-scale violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Reports on Myanmar 2019, Sri Lanka 2012, Sabrina, Rwanda both in 1999 pointed to our collective failure to speak to the scale of violations while they were committed. So for those killed and those whose voices are silenced what more evidence do you need? Now will you act decisively to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law or will you say instead that we did all we could"
