The United Nations Security Council convened on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the Middle East. The meeting comes after Israel moved to intensify its operations across the Gaza Strip following the breakdown of a fragile truce on 18 March. More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed since Israel resumed the fighting and some 5,800 others were wounded. Israel's blockade of the strip has also had dire implications on Gaza's 2.1 million population, further contributing to an already dire humanitarian crisis. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attended the session at the UN Headquarters where he warned that the two-state solution is at the brink of collapse. The comments came after the International Court of Justice in The Hague opened hearings on Monday into the blockade. "The two-state solution is near a point of no return. The international community has a responsibility to prevent perpetual occupation and violence," said Guterres. Guterres also told the ambassadors at the Council that urgent steps must be taken to ensure the implementation of it. "My call to member states is clear and urgent. Take irreversible action toward implementing a two-state solution. Do not let extremists on any side undermine what remains of the peace process," he added. He also warned of the crippling humanitarian conditions under which Gazans have been forced into as the Israeli blockade of the enclave continues to suffocate the populous of crucial aid, medicine and basic necessities. "The humanitarian situation throughout the Gaza Strip has gone from bad to worse to beyond imagination. For nearly two full months, Israel has blocked food, fuel, medicine and commercial supplies, depriving more than 2 million people of life-saving relief, while the world watches." Guterres noted that geographic realities must be protected to ensure a strong foundation for any future peace. The UN boss sounded the alarm on the increasing settler violence and expansion in the West Bank. He also announced that the Security Council rejects under international law any attempt to change the enclave's territorial or demographic integrity, including actions that reduce Gaza's landmass, arguing that the Strip is of paramount importance to a future Palestine. "Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a future Palestinian state," noted Guterres. Palestine's Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, was also present at the meeting. Mansour called Netanyahu "delusional" after the Israeli prime minister recently said that a two-state solution means the "destruction of Israel". "Pursuing an independent state of Palestine living side by side with Israel in accordance with resolutions of this very council and the very United Nations resolutions in which the state of Israel was established with the partition of Palestine is somehow pursuing the destruction of Israel? Does that make sense? This is nonsense," said Mansour. The Palestinian diplomat also called for the immediate resumption of the ceasefire to end the civilian suffering. He also noted that US President Donald Trump is seemingly now in line with a more lenient approach to Gaza. "The United States are pushing to secure the entry of food and medicines to Gaza," he said "We deeply hope that the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, with the support of the international community as a whole, will be able to secure a return to the ceasefire to start bringing all this suffering to an end." Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 51 Palestinians over the past 24 hours, and wounded 113 more, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Attacks targeted multiple locations, from Jabaliya in the north to the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently holding 59, of whom 24 are believed to be alive. A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed more than 52,365 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry whose figure does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The UN says around 70% of all deaths they've been able to independently verify were women and children. According to the Israeli military's latest figures, 850 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war. — Euronews
