\n\tNEW YORK: The US ambassador to the UN stood as a lone voice in support of Israel on Monday, as he repeated accusations that the countries that recognized Palestine last week had \u201crewarded Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMike Waltz was addressing a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East as US President Donald Trump was set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.<\/p>\n
\n\tWaltz accused the UNSC of having an \u201cobsessive focus\u201d on Israel. \u201cThe US continues to work tirelessly to free all 48 hostages and end the war \u2026 If we want to end the war, we need to place accountability where it belongs, with the terrorist organization known as Hamas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cMembers of this body rewarded Hamas for its horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7, by unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHamas \u201csees actions like that as winning and as a win for them,\u201d Waltz said, calling on the council and UN member states to \u201cpressure Hamas to end the bloodshed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tA stable West Bank \u201ckeeps Israel secure, and is in line with this administration\u2019s goal to achieve peace in the region,\u201d Waltz said.<\/p>\n
\n\tLast week, Trump reportedly promised Arab and Muslim leaders at a closed-door UN meeting that the US will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn Monday\u2019s meeting, Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN\u2019s deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, outlined the status of Resolution 2334, adopted in 2016, which calls for an end to Israeli settlement building in the Occupied Territories, among other stipulations.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis year, from June 18 to Sept. 19, Israeli planning authorities advanced or approved about 20,810 housing units in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDemolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures also accelerated \u2026 Israeli authorities demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 455 structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing 420 people, including 175 children and 118 women,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring the same period, Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry reported the deaths of at least 7,579 Palestinians and at least 37,201 injured, mostly women and children, Alakbarov said.<\/p>\n
\n\tDespite the world\u2019s focus on events in Gaza, violence in the West Bank is continuing \u201cat an alarming rate,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlakbarov described a series of incidents across cities in the West Bank, notably Tulkarem and Jenin, in which large-scale operations by Israeli forces killed Palestinian children.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAfter 23 months of fighting, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is beyond breaking point,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlakbarov shared the views of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the implementation of Resolution 2334.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIsraeli settlement expansion continues to accelerate alongside the proliferation of outposts and steps in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) promoting the annexation of the West Bank,\u201d Guterres said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIsraeli settlements have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law and UN resolutions.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re systematically shrinking the territory of the Palestinian state and further entrenching Israel\u2019s unlawful occupation.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m appalled at the horrific humanitarian situation in Gaza, with unbearable levels of suffering and untenable living conditions. Famine in Gaza is a man-made disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe UNSC meeting included remarks from permanent and non-permanent states, including Russia, France, China and Slovenia.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe latter, which recognized Palestine last year, is serving as a non-permanent member of the council for 2024\u20132025.<\/p>\n
\n\tSamuel Zbogar, Slovenia\u2019s ambassador to the UN, said \u201cthe horrors of Gaza dominated all discussions\u201d at the UN General Assembly over the past week, highlighting the almost unanimous message that \u201cthe suffering in Gaza must end.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe said Slovenia supports the Palestinian Authority and the UN Relief and Works Agency as crucial bodies in any postwar governance of Gaza.<\/p>\n
\n\tZbogar described UNRWA as an \u201cindispensable part of the fiber of Palestinian society that \u201cmust be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tEach national recognition of Palestine over the past week \u2014 which included France, the UK, Canada and Australia \u2014 strengthens the \u201clegitimacy of Palestine and moves us closer to a just settlement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI want to underline that we also hear voices for peace in Israel \u2026 We hear families of hostages calling for ceasefire,\u201d Zbogar added.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe hear voices of so many Israelis understanding that their safety and future is intertwined with the safety and future of Palestinians \u2026 We hear Jewish voices around the globe emphasizing that peace can\u2019t be achieved through war.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAsim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan\u2019s ambassador to the UN, told the council meeting that Israel continues to violate Resolution 2334 \u201cwith impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIsrael\u2019s use of \u201csystematic military operations, illegal settlements and forced displacement\u201d are aimed at \u201cextinguishing the very prospect of a two-state solution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe people of Palestine can\u2019t wait. The cause of peace, and the credibility of this council, depend on what we do in this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK: The US ambassador to the UN stood as a lone voice in support of Israel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-179832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}