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Gaza ceasefire 'exists in name only' along Yellow Line, UN envoy tells Security Council
About 1,500 Palestinians have been killed since the truce, the UN's acting Middle East envoy said, warning that winter floods could put 950,000 people at risk. Britain and France demanded a halt to the E1 settlement plan.
Key points
- About 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire, including over 320 children.
- Some 950,000 people live in areas at risk of winter flooding.
- Britain and France demanded Israel halt the E1 settlement project.
The ceasefire in Gaza remains “extremely fragile”, and for Palestinians living along the Yellow Line “the ceasefire exists in name only,” the UN’s acting Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, told the Security Council on Thursday.
Citing Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Alakbarov said about 1,500 Palestinians had been killed since the truce took hold, more than 320 of them children and 140 women. He warned that winter could deepen the crisis: about 950,000 people are living in areas at risk of flooding, and more than 4,000 buildings being used as shelters could collapse. He called for the Gaza plan to be carried out in full, including the disarming of Hamas and Israeli withdrawal.
Pressure over E1
Several members turned to the occupied West Bank. Britain’s ambassador, Sarah MacIntosh, demanded an immediate halt to the E1 settlement project and withdrawal of the tender linked to it, and urged Israel to “remove the current restrictions” on aid into Gaza. France’s Jérôme Bonnafont also called for an end to settlement expansion, citing settler violence and financial pressure on the Palestinian Authority.
Pakistan’s acting envoy, Usman Jadoon, said “settlement expansion, particularly the E1 project, threatens to sever Palestinian territorial contiguity,” and called for a “credible, time-bound and irreversible” process to end the occupation.
The United States defended President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, endorsed by Resolution 2803, and said its success depends on Hamas disarming.
Majed Bamya, Palestine’s deputy permanent observer, said Israel kept killing Palestinians despite the ceasefire, that more than 1,000 had been killed in the West Bank over three years, and that the “occupation must end.” He called for Gaza and the West Bank to be reunited under the Palestinian Authority.