{"id":309126,"date":"2025-07-16T14:46:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=309126"},"modified":"2025-08-21T15:40:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:40:34","slug":"usg-ocha-briefing-security-council-16jul25","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/usg-ocha-briefing-security-council-16jul25\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Relief Chief warns Security Council: Erosion of rules of war in Gaza demands urgent response"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

16 July 2025<\/p>\n

\n

Briefing to the Security Council on the Middle East by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As delivered<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to remind this Council why we are briefing you today.<\/p>\n

The General Assembly gave us a humanitarian mandate \u2013 in resolution 46\/182 \u2013 and a set of principles that you as Member States have asked us to uphold: humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.<\/p>\n

That means aid must go where needs are greatest and without discrimination. It means we answer to civilians in need, not the warring parties.<\/p>\n

Our mandate is also to advocate for international humanitarian law \u2013 not just to report to you on what we witness, but so that you, this Council, can take action.<\/p>\n

Even when those responsible would rather silence us.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are beyond vocabulary to describe conditions in Gaza. So let me instead share facts:<\/p>\n

Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families. Field hospitals receive dead bodies, and medical workers hear stories firsthand from the injured. Day, after day, after day.<\/p>\n

Starvation rates among children hit their highest levels in June, with over 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished.<\/p>\n

Last week, amid this hunger crisis, children and women were killed in a strike while waiting for the food supplements to keep them alive.<\/p>\n

And Hamas continue to hold hostages, and we have received reports of their attacks on aid workers.<\/p>\n

The health system is shattered. Only 17 of 36 hospitals and 63 of 170 primary healthcare centres are functioning, all only partially, even as mass casualties arrive daily.<\/p>\n

In some hospitals, five babies share one incubator. Seventy per cent of essential medicines are out of stock.<\/p>\n

Half of all medical equipment has been damaged. Pregnant women give birth without medical care. Women and girls manage menstruation without basic sanitary supplies.<\/p>\n

Water, sanitation systems are broken. Roughly four of every five of these facilities, including water points, are now located within militarized zones or areas under displacement orders \u2013 so, even if they are functional, they are out of reach for those who depend on them.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fuel crisis in Gaza remains at a critical threshold.<\/p>\n

Last week, Israeli authorities agreed to allow two trucks of fuel to Gaza per day, five days a week, through the Kerem Shalom crossing, and we have some indication that approvals may increase slightly. We hope these will materialize.<\/p>\n

This is the first time any fuel has been allowed to enter the Strip in 130 days, and still no petrol has been permitted, which fuels many ambulances and other critical services.<\/p>\n

Two trucks provide a fraction of what\u2019s required to run essential life-sustaining services.<\/p>\n

And even when fuel is allowed in for humanitarian purposes, our access to storing and moving it to where it is needed is not guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turning to the West Bank, there is continued loss of life and livelihoods, movement restrictions, growing displacement.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, two Palestinian youths were killed in a settler attack near Ramallah. One was beaten to death; another was fatally shot. Dozens were injured. And ambulances were blocked from reaching the wounded.<\/p>\n

Settler violence is escalating at an alarming rate, and Palestinian communities are being displaced, injured and their property damaged.<\/p>\n

Each day this year, the UN has documented an average of four incidents of settler violence against Palestinians and their property.<\/p>\n

In June, 100 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers, the highest number in two decades.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s soaring humanitarian needs must be met without drawing people into a firing line.<\/p>\n

Israel, as the occupying power, is obligated to ensure that people have food and medical supplies.<\/p>\n

But that is not happening. Instead, civilians are exposed to death and injury, forcible displacement, stripped of dignity.<\/p>\n

It is for you to draw your own conclusions. But surely, we do not need to debate whether killing civilians waiting in line for life\u2019s essentials meets the responsibility to provide for civilian needs.<\/p>\n

We are awaiting the outcome of Israel\u2019s investigation into this, and earlier incidents. I hope that you will consider whether Israel\u2019s rules of engagement incorporate all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize civilian harm in all circumstances.<\/p>\n

This means, here as elsewhere, verifying targets, giving effective advance warnings, carefully choosing tactics and weapons, and canceling or suspending an attack if it would cause disproportionate civilian harm.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each time that we report on what we see, we face threats of further reduced access to the civilians we are trying to serve.<\/p>\n

We face that tension everywhere, but nowhere is that tension between our advocacy mandate and delivering aid greater than in Gaza. Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians. Security clearances are not granted for staff to enter Gaza to continue their work.<\/p>\n

And humanitarian partners are increasingly denied entry to Gaza. In 2025, 56 per cent of the entries denied were for Emergency Medical Teams.<\/p>\n

Of course, as you know, hundreds of aid workers have been killed; and those who continue to work endure hunger, danger and loss, like everyone else in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

Personal tragedies continue to echo through our teams and their families. This morning another ICRC colleague was killed.<\/p>\n

I pay tribute to them all and to the courage of the work of UNICEF and other agencies inside Gaza.<\/p>\n

Thousands, including many of our colleagues who are injured, are not able to leave to seek treatment.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me walk you briefly through what it takes to deliver your aid \u2013 the aid you fund \u2013 into Gaza.<\/p>\n

Something as simple as a bag of flour:<\/p>\n

Before reaching the crossing into Gaza, it must clear multiple layers of approval, including customs involving several ministries.<\/p>\n

Once approved, it is scanned, loaded onto Israeli trucks, and often re-inspected at Kerem Shalom.<\/p>\n

From there, it is either moved by pre-approved Palestinian trucks up the fence road that runs along Gaza\u2019s border or transferred to so-called sterile trucks which offload on the Palestinian side of the crossing and are picked up in different sized trucks from Gaza.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why counting trucks is often misleading \u2013 because it\u2019s not always a ratio of one-to-one.<\/p>\n

Once inside Gaza, movement requires navigating an obstacle course of coordination with Israeli forces, through active hostilities, traveling on damaged roads, and often being forced to wait at holding points or pass through areas controlled by criminal gangs. And distribution is uncertain, as starving people often try to grab the flour off the back of our trucks.<\/p>\n

With these obstacles in place, your generous contribution may never reach our distribution points. And even if it does, getting it at scale to those in need remains deeply uncertain.<\/p>\n

And as I\u2019ve said before, it doesn’t have to be this way.<\/p>\n

We have a plan that works. It requires predictable aid, of different types and at scale, entering multiple crossings where people do not come under fire, travelling on routes that we choose, without long delays, being delivered to our warehouses and distribution points according to established UN aid mechanisms and humanitarian principles \u2013 the principles that you have given us the mandate to uphold.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even as this broader plan remains stalled, and despite severe restrictions, thousands of colleagues on the ground \u2013 daily, at great personal risk \u2013 are still delivering life-saving aid.<\/p>\n

Between 19th of May, when limited aid entry resumed, and the 14th of July, only 1,633 trucks \u2013 62 per cent of the roughly 2,600 submitted to the Israeli authorities, 74 per cent of those approved for entry \u2013 reached Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.<\/p>\n

They carried mainly wheat flour, alongside limited quantities of food for kitchens, nutrition supplies, medical supplies, chlorine. After multiple steps of cargo offloading and uploading on different vehicles, a total of 1,600 Palestinian trucks could be collected for distribution inside Gaza.<\/p>\n

Last week alone, we had 21 Emergency Medical Teams deployed providing life-saving services and some relief to doctors in Gaza; 238 pallets of medical supplies entered, including 10 cold-chain pallets with 1,396 blood units and 1,550 plasma doses \u2013 enough for 10 days.<\/p>\n

We supported 800 weekly medical consultations for women and girls, enabled 84 kitchens to serve 260,000 meals daily, and delivered 17,000 cubic metres of drinking water through 1,300 collection points. This is life-saving support provided with dignity.<\/p>\n

But to be clear, it\u2019s a drop in the ocean of what is needed, compared to the average of 630 truckloads that entered daily during the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire proved what\u2019s possible. And we need to return to those levels without delay.<\/p>\n

Now, our work \u2013 the UN and its partners \u2013 is by no means perfect, but it is rooted in humanitarian principles, practices honed over decades of experience across the globe, steadfast commitment to saving lives. And we ask you again, please, let us work.<\/p>\n

In this respect, I welcome the recent agreement between the European Union and Israel on humanitarian access. We look forward to hearing more of the detail, and to understanding how implementation will be assessed.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me remind this Council that the International Court of Justice has demanded that Israel take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.<\/p>\n

With these facts before you, I ask you as a Council to assess whether Israel is meeting its international legal obligations and whether we humanitarians can fulfill our mandate.<\/p>\n

Is this allowing and facilitating rapid, unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief, as the rules of war demand? Or is it obstruction? You will draw your own conclusions.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weeks ago, an Israeli minister called allowing aid into Gaza a \u201cdisastrous decision,\u201d while another implied that starvation might be \u201cjustified and moral\u201d until hostages are freed \u2013 and they must be freed.<\/p>\n

Intentionally using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare would of course be a war crime.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Israel\u2019s Defense Minister talked openly about moving Palestinians into what he called a \u2018humanitarian city.\u2019<\/p>\n

We understand that the proposal is to forcibly displace Palestinians to a designated zone near Rafah.<\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t know how to describe this, but it is not humanitarian.<\/p>\n

Mr. President,<\/strong><\/p>\n

States and armed groups must uphold the rules \u2013 forged because of the horrors of conflict and hatred \u2013 that protect civilians in war.<\/p>\n

Today, across the world, we watch these rules being corroded and degraded.<\/p>\n

Again, it is of course for you to decide how you act to ensure that all parties respect international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n

But I agree with some members of the Israeli cabinet that you have consistently overestimated your powers of quiet persuasion.<\/p>\n

We hold all parties to the standards of international law in this conflict. We don\u2019t have to choose \u2013 and in fact, we must not choose \u2013 between demanding the end to the starvation of civilians in Gaza and demanding the unconditional release of all the hostages.<\/p>\n

And we must reject antisemitism. We must fight it with every fiber of our DNA. But we must also hold Israel to the same principles and laws of all other states.<\/p>\n

So civilians must be protected wherever they are. Hostages must be released \u2013 I say it again. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to enter at scale. And humanitarian workers must be protected.<\/p>\n

You owe that to Israeli and Palestinian civilians, to the last hopes of a sustainable peace, and to the UN Charter.<\/p>\n

All members of this Council have been unequivocal: ceasefire, ceasefire, ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

More documents related to this meeting:\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n