{"id":251431,"date":"2021-05-12T17:15:35","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T21:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=251431"},"modified":"2021-05-14T10:24:08","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T14:24:08","slug":"situation-in-israel-opt-12-may-2021-daily-press-briefing-excerpts","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/situation-in-israel-opt-12-may-2021-daily-press-briefing-excerpts\/","title":{"rendered":"Situation in Israel, OPT \u2013 12 May 2021 Daily Press Briefing \u2013 (Excerpts)"},"content":{"rendered":"

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY\u00a0ST\u00c9PHANE DUJARRIC,\u200b<\/strong>
\nSPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANT\u00d3NIO GUTERRES<\/strong>
\nWEDNESDAY, 12 MAY 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

SECURITY COUNCIL\/<\/strong>MIDDLE EAST<\/strong>
\nThis morning, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor\u00a0Wennesland, briefed the Security Council in a close session, as the situation on the ground continues deteriorating into \u201cthe most serious escalation between Israel and Palestinian militants in years\u201d. We are very concerned by the growing civilian casualties in both Gaza ad Israel and deeply saddened by reported deaths of children in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The Secretary-General and Mr. Wennesland have both reiterated that Hamas and other militants\u2019 indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars from highly populated civilian neighbourhoods towards civilian population centres violates international humanitarian law, and it is unacceptable and has to stop immediately.<\/p>\n

While recognizing Israel\u2019s legitimate security concerns, Mr. Wennesland also reiterated that Israeli authorities must also abide by their responsibilities under international law and that Israeli security forces should exercise maximum restraint, calibrate their use of force to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations.
\nThe Secretary-General is particularly appalled that children continue to be victims of violence. They should be afforded special protection from any form of violence.<\/p>\n

He and his Envoy have called on the international community to take action to enable the parties to step back from the brink and return to the previous understandings that have maintained a relative calm in Gaza and avoid a descent into chaos, with the massive casualties and immense damage to civilian infrastructure that would result. He reminded, Mr. Wennesland reminded the Council members that it is the civilian population on both sides that bears the burden of war and that the most vulnerable are at the ones at greatest risk of suffering.<\/p>\n

He also highlighted that these devastating cycles of violence, which destroy the lives and futures of Palestinians and Israelis alike, will only stop with a political resolution of the conflict, an end to the occupation and a realization of a two-State solution on the basis of UN resolutions, international law and existing agreements, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.<\/p>\n

MIDDLE EAST\/HUMANITARIAN<\/strong>
\nThe Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the current risk of escalation will likely worsen the humanitarian situation, especially in Gaza, where the health sector has been struggling to provide basic services for years and has been further burdened further by COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Funding for the humanitarian response is critical. The Humanitarian Response Plan for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, asking for $417 million to help 1.8 million vulnerable Palestinians, is 29 per cent funded.<\/p>\n

MIDDLE EAST\/CHILDREN<\/strong>
\nThe Executive Director of the UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, today said that at least 14 children in the State of Palestine and one child in Israel have been reported killed since Monday.<\/p>\n

She noted that another 95 children in Gaza and the West Bank \u2013 including East Jerusalem \u2013 and three children in Israel have reportedly been injured in the past five days.<\/p>\n

Ms. Fore said the situation is at a dangerous tipping point, with the level of violence and its impact on children being devastating.<\/p>\n

In any war, she said, children \u2013 all children \u2013 suffer first and the most.<\/p>\n

Ms. Fore called on all sides to end all violence and de-escalate tensions, urging them to protect all civilians, especially children.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Questions and Answers<\/u><\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thanks, St\u00e9phane.\u00a0 I’m wondering if the Secretary\u2011General has any reaction to the Security Council’s inability to come together on the situation in the Middle East and issue any kind of a statement? \u00a0Would that have been helpful?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, we don’t think that all hope is lost.\u00a0 We always\u2026 any international situation will always benefit from a strong and unified voice from the Security Council.\u00a0 We hope that Council members find, have the ability to issue a statement.\u00a0 Ibtisam?<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 A follow\u2011up, first, on that.\u00a0 So, the Security Council, the failure of the Security Council to issue a statement has to do, according to diplomatic resources, to\u2026 with the refusal of the US to do so, and the US was the only country who opposed that.\u00a0 Do you have any comments on that?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Look, you, obviously, speak to more diplomats and have access to more diplomats than I do.\u00a0 I\u2026 and I’m not questioning at all what you’re saying.\u00a0 It’s just I’m not able to comment on the inner workings of Council members.\u00a0 We hope that whatever issue there is gets resolved, and we would, as always, we would want to hear a strong, unified message from the Security Council.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 On your statement regarding the security concerns of civilian Israelis, do you believe that Palestinians, civilian Palestinians, have also security concerns and that you should comment on them and take them into consideration?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I think, I think we have\u2026 we have commented on it.\u00a0 And I think each case of the use of force needs to be analysed, investigated and dealt with.\u00a0 As we’ve said, Palestinians have the right to demonstrate peacefully, express themselves without fear of harm, and we’ve consistently called on Israel to refrain from excessive force in such contexts.\u00a0 Civilians, whether in Israel, whether in the occupied Palestinian territory, should not be made the target of acts of terror or subjected to rocket attacks.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Last one, for now at least.\u00a0 But, I mean, a follow\u2011up on that.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, you did condemn the launching of missiles by Hamas to Israel, but you did not condemn\u2026 the SG did not condemn the killing of Palestinians and attacks on Al\u2011Aqsa Mosque and other places and on civilians.\u00a0 My question is, and I know we asked these questions in the last few days.\u00a0 My question’s actually is the Secretary\u2011General afraid to take any action or to\u2026 any statement on this issue because he’s standing for elections and afraid from the American support that they will not support him if he does so?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No, no\u2026 no.\u00a0 That’s the short answer.\u00a0 The Secretary\u2011General has repeatedly condemned the use of force against civilians.<\/p>\n

Correspondent<\/u>:\u00a0 Including Palestinian civilians\u2026<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Civilians are civilians.<\/p>\n

Correspondent<\/u>:\u00a0 No, but you\u2026<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I’m just say\u2026 I’m answering your question to the best of my ability.\u00a0 Toby?<\/p>\n

Correspondent<\/u>:\u00a0 But, you didn’t\u2026 yeah.<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So, the question, is he afraid\u2026?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I think I answered that first part by saying no.\u00a0 Toby?<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thanks, Steph.\u00a0 So, follow\u2011up from yesterday, do Palestinians have a right to self\u2011defence? \u00a0I think there was some legal hesitation there or something\u2026?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I think, as I just told Ibtisam, each case of use of force must be analysed, investigated, and dealt with on its own terms.\u00a0 And I’d refer you to what I’ve just said to Ibtisam.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Do they have like a common\u2011sense right to self\u2011defence?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Any use of force needs to be analysed.\u00a0 It needs to be investigated, dealt with on its own terms.\u00a0 No civilians, whether Palestinians, whether Israelis, should be made the target of terror, of rocket attacks.\u00a0 Civilians need to be protected.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Second question is, how concerned should we be about war right now? \u00a0I mean, are we on a warpath? \u00a0Who\u2026 what did Mr.\u00a0Wennesland say in that regard?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I think we are very concerned about an escalating spiral of violence.\u00a0 The\u2026 as we’ve just\u2026 any violence, any increase in the spiral of violence will just continue to hurt the future of Palestinians, of Israelis.\u00a0 Our position has been clear that the only solution to this is a political solution based on existing UN resolutions, based on the end of the occupation and the realization of a two\u2011State solution.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Can you qualify what going on in Gaza now as an act of aggression?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I’m not\u2026 I’m going to qualify it as an extremely dangerous and ever\u2011growing cycle of violence that will hurt, first and foremost, civilians.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 The statement you have just said on Mr.\u00a0Wennesland did not put the background of what happened, which started in Jerusalem and started exactly on Friday evening when Israeli security forces invaded Al\u2011Aqsa Mosque, brutalized the worshippers and left 300\u00a0people wounded.\u00a0 That is how it started.\u00a0 Why he didn’t put that background before he talks about\u2026?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Mr.\u00a0Wennesland\u2026 this is sort of the highlights of, the expression\u2026 let me put it this way.\u00a0 This is the expression of our opinion and our analysis of the situation.\u00a0 In his closed briefing to the Security Council, I know he also reported the facts on the ground.\u00a0 You had another question?<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 One more question, St\u00e9phane.\u00a0 Do people under occupation have the right to resist their occupiers?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Look, I think I’ve answered that question.\u00a0 There’s a body of international law, international humanitarian law, and you’re free to consult it.<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY\u00a0ST\u00c9PHANE DUJARRIC,\u200b SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANT\u00d3NIO GUTERRES WEDNESDAY, 12 MAY 2021 \/… SECURITY COUNCIL\/MIDDLE EAST This morning, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor\u00a0Wennesland, briefed the Security Council in a close session, as the situation on the ground continues deteriorating into \u201cthe most serious escalation between Israel […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[897,1593],"document-category":[2573],"document-source":[2169,5352,1362,2105,6169,1877],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,1829,2033,2005,2533,1741,1857,1961,2349,2385,2117,6245],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-251431","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-israel","country-palestine-state-of","document-category-highlights-of-the-noon-briefing","document-source-office-for-the-coordination-of-humanitarian-affairs-ocha","document-source-secretary-general","document-source-security-council","document-source-united-nations-childrens-fund-unicef","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-source-united-nations-special-coordinator-for-the-middle-east-peace-process-unsco","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-children","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-health","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-incidents","document-subject-jerusalem","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-security-issues","document-subject-terrorism","document-subject-violence","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/251431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/251431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=251431"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=251431"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=251431"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=251431"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=251431"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=251431"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=251431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}