The UAE has warned that the “drums of war are beating” in the region, reiterating the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council, a UAE ambassador said there have been “several credible warnings” of a wider escalation.
Emergency UN Security Council Meeting:
The UN Security Council convened on Monday after the UAE, and China called for an emergency meeting as Israel expanded its ground operations into Gaza over the weekend. The emergency session will continue on Tuesday.
Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said Palestinian civilians are paying the price in Israel’s retaliatory strikes over Hamas’ “heinous October 7th attacks”.
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza:
“The more than 8,000 people that have been killed in Gaza … 70 percent of whom were women and children, were surely not all Hamas,” the Emirati ambassador said.
“Nearly 1,000 children are missing and may be trapped or dead under the rubble. They are not Hamas. Will we help them?”
“The number of Palestinian children killed in just three weeks of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza exceeds the total number of children killed in conflicts worldwide in each of the last four years.”
Call for Immediate Action:
She referred to statements from diplomats that the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are not Hamas and that this is not a war against them. “And while these are welcome words, it is time that action reflected them.”
Urgent Need for Ceasefire and Aid:
Gaza needs a ceasefire “now,” she stressed. “We must ensure that safe, sustained, and at-scale humanitarian aid reaches Gaza now. And that access to electricity, clean water, and fuel is restored now.”
Referring to the shutdown of cellular and Internet services in Gaza over the weekend, she said wounded civilians are searching for help in the dark.
Four efforts to reach a consensus on a Gaza resolution have failed at the UN Security Council.
Warning on International Order:
“Members of this council have repeatedly expressed their concerns about the fraying of the international order. This council ignoring the expressed will of most of the world may be what breaks it,” said Nusseibeh.
Global Call for Humanitarian Truce:
She referred to the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on Friday, in which 121 countries issued an unambiguous call for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce in Gaza.
“They stood up for the humanitarian imperative, for human rights, for international law, and most importantly, for the self-evident truth that Palestinian life is precious, equal, and deserving of the full protection of the law.”
