Lebanon’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Hadi Hachem said the Israeli aggression wreaked havoc on his country and resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The Lebanese people are in desperate need of urgent relief aid, he appealed in a speech on Wednesday to an emergency session by the UN Security Council on the case in the Middle East.
Ambassador Hachem denounced as war crimes the brutal Israeli attacks which resulted in heavy damage among the ranks of civilians in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Rejecting as untrue the Israeli claims of limited military operations, he said that the Israeli occupation regime brought the entire Middle East on the brink of all-out war.
On his part, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his appeals for a ceasefire in Gaza, a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and an end to the violence in the region during another Security Council emergency meeting.
“The raging fires in the Middle East are fast becoming an inferno,” wa
rned the Secretary-General, who exactly one week ago briefed the 15-member organ about the alarming situation.
Lamenting the escalating tensions along the Blue Line and repeated violations of Council resolution 1701 (2006), with “almost daily exchanges of fire by Hizbullah and other non-State armed groups in Lebanon and the Israel Defense Forces”, he stressed that “Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.” “I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel,” he stressed, noting that such condemnation should have been obvious in the condemnation he expressed on 1 October.
Pointing to the temporary ceasefire proposed by the United States and France to allow for the restart of negotiations, he said, “Israel refused that proposal and stepped up its strikes, including bombing the Hizbullah headquarters where its leader was killed” and conducting a “limited incursion” into southern Lebanon, while “Hizbullah has continued rocket and missile attacks on Israel.” ”
This deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop,” he stressed. Underscoring that “civilians are paying a terrible price”, with more than 1,700 killed and 364,000 displaced in Lebanon since October 2023, he urged the international community to fully fund the UN’s humanitarian appeal.
Recalling the “atrocious 7 October acts of terror by Hamas”, he said: “Israel has conducted in Gaza the most deadly and destructive military campaign in my years as Secretary-General.” “As Israel continues its military operations, settlement construction, evictions and land grabs in the occupied West Bank, armed Palestinian groups and Hamas engage in violence, with the latter launching terror attacks that on 1 October killed seven Israelis in Jaffa,” the Secretary-General went on.
“It is high time for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the effective delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and irreversible progress to a two-State solution,” he emphasized.
The Secretary-General also urged a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and “real action” towards full implementation of Council resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1701 (2006) to facilitate diplomatic efforts towards sustainable peace.
In the ensuing debate, speakers echoed the Secretary-General’s grave concern about a war that could engulf the region and pleas for an end to the violence, with several Council members condemning Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on 1 October against Israel and reiterating their steadfast support of Israel’s right to self-defence.
Representatives of other Arab States also took the floor to voice their dismay at Council inaction over the past year and reiterate their calls on the organ to stop Israel’s aggression on Palestinians and States in the region.
“Israel is not above the law, and we must hold it accountable,” emphasized Algeria’s representative, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the end of Israeli occupation of Arab lands. The Council must adopt binding resolution
s to ensure an immediate ceasefire as it did in other conflicts around the world – as its failure to fulfil its responsibility to maintain international peace and security opens the door for Israel to persist in its violations without any real deterrent, stressed Iraq’s delegate, while Syria’s representative pointed to the reluctance of the United States to “stop this Israeli madness.” Echoing Arab States’ rebuke of Israel were the representatives of China and the Russian Federation, with the latter pointing out that Israel continued its brutal campaign in Gaza, despite overwhelming demands to stop it, as its American accomplices paralysed deliberations in the Security Council.
On Israel’s declaring of the UN Secretary-General as “persona non grata”, he called on the Organization to respond to the “outrageous act”, which he called “a slap on the United Nations and all of us.”
Source: Kuwait News Agency