Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security
Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.
First, the United Kingdom is appalled by the deeply distressing
scenes emerging from Rafah following Israeli airstrikes over the
weekend. As the Foreign Secretary has said, we call on Israel to
launch a swift, comprehensive and transparent investigation.
The UK's position is very clear. We do not support a major
military operation in Rafah without an acceptable plan to protect
the hundreds of thousands of civilians who remain there. We have
seen no such plan. Hundreds of thousands have already been
displaced from Rafah, many for the second time, and to locations
without suitable provision of shelter, food, water and access to
medical treatment.
We strongly condemn Hamas's actions to put civilians at severe
risk by using them as shields. We call on Israel to take care to
limit operations to military targets and to minimise harm to
civilians and civilian objects in line with international
humanitarian law.
Second, there is an urgent need to get more aid to the people of
Gaza who are in such desperate need. Israel has made a number of
commitments in recent weeks to increase the supply of aid,
including a commitment to flood Gaza with aid. This included
increasing the daily number of trucks of aid entering Gaza to
500, opening Ashdod Port to humanitarian aid, and additional
crossing points for aid in North Gaza.
While we welcome progress towards these commitments, including
the delivery from Ashdod Port into Gaza of flour by WFP, overall
progress has been too slow and quantities of aid being delivered
remain well below these levels. We welcome the agreement between
Egypt and Israel to allow UN agencies to deliver aid, but
operations in Rafah have increased the need for aid at a time
when flows have been reduced by the closure of the Rafah crossing
point, and reduced deliveries of aid through Kerem Shalom. The
humanitarian situation is now catastrophic.
We call on Israel urgently to fulfil these commitments, to allow
aid in quantity through all crossing points, including Rafah, and
also to ensure an environment within Gaza that allows aid to
reach those who so desperately need it. This includes an
effective deconfliction system to allow humanitarian workers to
distribute it safely, and supporting the minimum operating
requirements of the UN and its agencies.
Finally, President, all of this could stop now if Hamas laid down
their arms. They are causing this suffering to the Palestinian
people. We call on Hamas to immediately release all of the
hostages that have now been held for over seven months. We
urgently need to see a deal which stops the fighting, allows for
unhindered access for life saving aid into Gaza and gets the
hostages out.
We must then work with our international partners to turn that
pause into a sustainable, permanent ceasefire.
