Servet Gunerigok
18 March 2025•Update: 18 March 2025
WASHINGTON
Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, issued a passionate plea Tuesday for action from the Security Council following a resumption of deadly Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.
He warned that inaction would render the international body irrelevant.
Mansour, speaking at a Council session on the situation in the Palestinian enclave, condemned the violence, saying that Palestinians are being killed, denied humanitarian aid, maimed, and detained indiscriminately.
"We condemn these crimes in the strongest possible terms. This can never be justified, and must stop immediately," said the Palestinian envoy.
"And I agree with you, Madam president, when you said that you have a responsibility around the table to act. You are the Security Council, act. Stop this criminal action. Stop them from denying our people food in the month of Ramadan and water and hospitals to operate, act. You have resolutions, act. You have power, act. Or as my friend, the ambassador of Slovenia, said, you become irrelevant," Mansour added.
Mansour urged support in implementing a reconstruction plan proposed during an emergency Arab summit in Cairo earlier this month, that endorsed Egypt's $53 billion reconstruction plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing Palestinians.
"This is a historical moment where everyone must choose where they stand and what vision they want to see prevail. The next few days are decisive and can either set us on the right path or the wrong one, with huge implications for the region and the world," said Mansour.
"Help us in these few days to have the ceasefire in place, not the continuation of war. Life must prevail, liberty must prevail, peace must prevail. You are the mighty Security Council, act, help us," he added.
The Arab proposal came after US President Donald Trump proposed a plan to "take over" Gaza and resettle Palestinians to develop it the "Riviera of the Middle East."
The plan was rejected by the Arab world and many other nations, who say it amounts to ethnic cleansing.
The Israeli army said earlier Tuesday that it carried out airstrikes in Gaza, marking the largest assault since a ceasefire deal with reached between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, in late January.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 404 bodies have been transferred to hospitals, along with 562 injured, following the attacks. It added that “a number of victims are still under the rubble.”
Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October 2023, has killed more than 48,500 Palestinians.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
