Palestinian UN ambassador cries while describing suffering of Gaza’s children
NEW YORK CITY: At a United Nations Security Council meeting held on Wednesday, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, broke into tears while describing the horrors taking place in Gaza.
At the UN’s monthly open briefing on the situation in the middle East, Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the UN since 2005, spoke about the dire situation Palestinian children are facing.
“Dozens of children are dying of starvation. The images of mothers embracing their motionless bodies, caressing their hair, talking to them, apologising to them, its unbearable.
How could anyone tolerate this horror?” Mansour said, as he slammed his fist onto the table and began crying.
Gaza’s food shortage was worsened by Israel’s aid blockage, which lasted 11 weeks before ending 10 days ago. Israel now allows a small amount of relief to be delivered via the Untied Nations or the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Sigrid Kaag, UN Middle East envoy stated that the amount of aid allowed into Gaza was “comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.”
While Israel currently allows aid to be delivered via the two aforementioned avenues, Israel’s UN ambassafor Danny Danon told the security council that the “UN should put their ego aside” and work through the GHF. This is due to the fact that the foundation is using private US security and logistic companies to transport aid.
However, the UN has refused to work with the GHF, as Israel’s plan does not meet its principles of impartiality, neutrality, and independence. The plan seeks to create secure distributions sites, with the Israeli military states last Tuesday that two distribution sites in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah and the Morag Corridor.
Earlier, in reference to the plan and the safe sites, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the Palestinian population will move there for their own safety, while we conduct combat in other zones.”
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher has previously said that that by restricting aid to only one part of Gaza, Israel and the GHF are forcing further displacement, thus exposing thousands to harm.