Statement by Representative of Slovenia to the UN Security Council Ambassador Samuel Žbogar at the briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I also want to thank the briefers Ms. Msuya and dr. Ryan.

Mr. President,

Longtime ago we exhausted our vocabulary of words to describe the tragedy of Palestinians in Gaza. It is difficult to comprehend and accept that such suffering of civilians and especially children has been met with impunity in front of our eyes almost for 11 months and that we haven’t been successful in stopping it. And we are sitting here again at another Council meeting.

So what has changed since the last briefing? Given the scale of suffering, I could speak about record-high numbers of killed, injured, maimed, displaced. Since our last meeting, a first case of polio has been confirmed. The life of 10-month old Abdel-Rahman and his family is likely changed forever.

We would like to start by welcoming the efforts and work of WHO, UNICEF and UNRWA in setting up two rounds of polio vaccination campaigns. Polio can be stopped and we can prevent other young lives from being transformed. We join the calls for days of tranquility allowing for the safe and successful implementation of vaccination campaigns.

We also welcome efforts by the Israeli authorities in facilitating the campaigns.

As we were reminded today, the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, and as we just heard from dr. Ryan, several thousands of patients are in need of evacuation. We repeat our call for full adherence to international humanitarian and human rights law by all parties. We call for full implementation of ICJ provisional measures and Security Council resolutions. We call for an immediate ceasefire. We call for all hostages to be released. We call for humanitarian aid to be delivered at scale, while expressing our deep concern over the significant drop of aid recently.

Despite several disruptions, including major relocations and a dangerous operational environment, the United Nations and the broader humanitarian community continue their work. Two days ago, another UN vehicle was hit. We condemn the attack. Luckily, WFP colleagues survived because they were in an armored vehicle. This shows the importance of having access to appropriate security equipment, including communications equipment. It also shows the importance of a functioning system for deconfliction.

This is not an isolated incident. This Council has not been silent on these two points, that is on required security equipment and on functioning deconfliction mechanism. We issued a joint call on it in February and in April we demanded deficiencies to be remediated. Timely information should be shared with the Council on steps that have been taken to remedy these deficiencies.

There must be accountability for such incidents. There must also be reinforcement among troops of respect for the rules of engagement and obligations. This includes respect for the UN, its mission, its work, its staff.

Mr. President,

While we welcome progress related to polio vaccination campaigns, we reiterate that more needs to be done. Civilians must be protected. New threats are looming on the horizon. This war must end. We call on both sides to continue to engage in and finalize ceasefire negotiations and time is now. Every additional day and delays are counted in civilian lives.

By way of conclusion, I also want to briefly touch upon the current situation in the West Bank. We are appalled by the disproportionate use of force, increase in apparent targeted and other summary killings, arbitrary arrests, unsanctioned settler violence and other human rights violations and abuses. The ongoing operations and any unnecessary or disproportionate use of force must cease immediately. The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice is clear: Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and must end as rapidly as possible. Ideas of evacuations of Palestinians are fueling instability. We remind Israel that the appropriate legal frameworks must be applied and that human rights norms and standards applicable to law enforcement must be respected. More violence is not bringing Israel closer to safety and security and neither international community closer to the two-state solution, which is strongly supported by all members of this Council.

Finally, Mr. President, we repeat our call for maximum restraint by all countries and actors in the region. This is not the moment to add more fuel to the fire.

Thank you.

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