Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, urged all parties to abide by the agreement while delegates condemned the deliberate targeting of civilians, especially children.
Collective efforts to create a ceasefire
Mr Wennesland said: “The ceasefire remains in place as I speak, updating on the events of August 5-7, marking the worst outbreak of fighting since May 2021.
In line with the efforts of the United Nations, Qatar, the United States, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, he welcomed Egypt’s important role in brokering the agreement.
“Together these efforts helped prevent the outbreak of an all-out war“And authorized the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza earlier that day.
Counting numbers
Preliminary figures show that since Friday, the Israel Defense Forces have carried out 147 airstrikes against targets in Gaza while Palestinian militants launched 1,100 rockets and mortars at Israel.
After the smog settled, 46 Palestinians were killed and 360 injured.
In turn, 70 Israelis were injured along with damage to civilian structures.
Crossroads have been reopened
In separate statements, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Prime Minister of Israel announced that the ceasefire would take effect at 11:30 a.m. local time on August 7.
The United Nations is in close contact with all parties to strengthen the truce and to ensure that the significant gains made since last May for the easing of restrictions can be protected. – and finally the expansion.
Since the six-day closure of the Erez and Kerem Shalom intersection has caused power outages lasting more than 20 hours a day, the UN official particularly welcomes that the ceasefire will allow the movement of goods to resume. and people inside and outside Gaza.
He emphasized that at the opening of Kerem Shalom, 23 fuel trucks were able to enter Gaza that day, allowing the power plant in the area to resume normal operations.
Just one finger
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, asked how many more Palestinian children had to be buried until someone said, “enough is enough”.
Pointing out that there are two features that remain constant in Israel’s policy regardless of who is in power – bombing Gaza and advancing colonial settlements – he emphasizes that “Israel kills our people because it can”.
He pressed the Council, instead of waiting for one side to be ready, to instead “draw both sides to the peace process, today before tomorrow”.
‘Hardent truth’
In turn, Israel’s representative argued that the debate must focus on the fact that a terrorist organization, attempting to kill Israeli civilians, also murdered innocent Palestinian civilians along the way.
“This is not an assessment,” he said. This is the hard truth and Israel has all the proof.”
The ambassador pointed to videotapes, radio evidence and mission logs, proving that the deaths of children in Gevalia were the result of rockets fired by the group.
Click here to see the full debate.
