Mr President,
I would like to thank the Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Ms De Meo, and the Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Hadi, for their statements.
Switzerland is grateful for the important humanitarian work done by your staff, who risk their lives every day to meet enormous needs in a highly precarious context. I offer my most sincere condolences to the UN - in particular UNRWA - and to the families of those killed in the line of duty.
Mr. President,
The Secretary-General spoke of a ‘landscape of destruction and death’, with a degree of chaos that affects every Palestinian and those who seek to help them, when he described the situation in the Gaza Strip. Since the acts of terror committed by Hamas almost ten months ago, men, women and children have been living in unacceptable conditions, without any protection and prey to repeated displacements, famine and incessant hostilities. In addition, the breakdown of law and order is contributing to the lack of security, including for humanitarian workers. Conditions continue to deteriorate and the situation remains alarming. Switzerland condemns the fact that hostilities continue to claim many victims and displace thousands of civilians, as happened last Monday in the Khan Younis refugee camp.
Switzerland condemns all violations of international humanitarian law, including indiscriminate attacks and violence against civilians, persons hors de combat and civilian objects, as well as human rights violations and abuses. These violations must stop immediately. Those responsible must be held accountable. With Resolution 2730, this Council reaffirmed the responsibility of States and parties to conflicts to respect and protect the civilian population, including humanitarian personnel. It is high time that these obligations were respected.
There is an urgent need to restore immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to the entire affected population at all crossing points and throughout the Gaza Strip. This also applies to UNRWA, the largest humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip. Incidents in which clearly identified UN vehicles are fired upon must cease. Furthermore, Switzerland condemns the continued use of inflammatory language, despite our repeated appeals to desist from it. In this already extremely volatile environment, such language is likely to endanger the safety of UN operators, as well as the lives of employees working to help the civilian population.
In view of these observations, we reiterate three main messages:
First, and once again, Switzerland calls on the parties to strictly respect international humanitarian law. Attacks on the civilian population, including humanitarian and medical personnel, and the deliberate use of starvation as a method of warfare are war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Respect for and implementation of international humanitarian law and human rights, in particular the protection of civilians, must remain a priority for this Council.
Second, we call for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.
Thirdly, we demand the full implementation of the binding decisions of this Council, in particular resolutions 2712, 2720, 2728 and 2735. An immediate and lasting ceasefire is essential to improve the situation of the civilian population.
Mr President,
These elements are only the first steps towards a political resolution of the conflict. We call on the members of this Council and the States that can exert influence on the parties to the conflict to take the necessary measures to put an end to the violence and to relaunch a process of dialogue with a view to implementing the two-State solution.
Thank you