UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Security Council meeting. UN warns of growing instability in Gaza and West Bank Peace and Security
The situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank continues to deteriorate amid regional instability. Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Khaled Khiari stated this at a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council.
Humanitarian crisis in Gaza
Khiari described the current truce regime in Gaza as “increasingly fragile.” Israeli airstrikes on the sector continue, Hamas does not stop fighting. Negotiations on the disarmament of the factions, as provided for in resolution 2803 (2025), have not yet led to an agreement. According to Gaza’s health ministry, shelling has killed nearly 800 Palestinians since the truce began, including more than 200 children. settlements, threaten entire communities and further undermine prospects for the political process,” Khiari said.
The humanitarian situation in the enclave is critical: 1.8 million people, that is, almost the entire population of Gaza, do not have permanent housing. Although more aid is pouring into the enclave, Israeli restrictions on the delivery of dual-use goods and unstable checkpoints continue to prevent the UN from launching humanitarian operations on the scale needed.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General.
Khiari recalled that, according to estimates from the UN, the European Union and the World Bank, $71.4 billion will be needed to restore Gaza in the next decade. At the same time, $26.3 billion will be required in the first 18 months to restore basic infrastructure and the economy.
To address these challenges, the UN launched the Horizon Fund, co-chaired by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov. rights. We are deeply grateful to UN Member States for their contributions,” Khiari said.
He paid special attention to the political aspect of conflict resolution. To advance it, he noted, it is necessary to allow the Palestinian National Consultative Committee for the Governance of the Gaza Strip to carry out its functions in coordination with the Palestinian Authority. In parallel, there must be a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the strip, the disarmament of the factions and the deployment of the International Stabilization Force – in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan to End the Conflict in Gaza. unprecedented expansion of settlement activity. In March, the Israeli cabinet approved the creation of 34 settlements in zone C. Plans for 1,080 residential units advanced between March 14 and April 16. During this time, 21 Palestinians and one Israeli were killed in clashes in the West Bank.
“The frequency and severity of attacks by settlers continue to increase. Entire Palestinian communities regularly face fatal violence, vandalism and persecution, often in the presence or participation of Israeli soldiers,” the assistant secretary-general said.
Khiari warned of an “existential financial crisis” in the Palestinian Authority. Today it is deprived of the tools for self-sufficiency.
He also welcomed the three-week extension of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon and the ongoing negotiations, which are being facilitated by the United States. At the same time, Khiari noted that the situation on the ground remains extremely unstable, violence continues.
UN Photo/Mark Garten Tony Blair, member of the Peace Council Executive Board.
Tony Blair: Gaza has reached a “tipping point”
“We have reached a turning point,” former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, a member of the Executive Council of the Peace Council created by US President Donald Trump, said in his speech to the Security Council.
He called on Security Council members to mobilize funds for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip through the UN and the World Bank, in close cooperation with the Palestinian National Advisory Committee for Governance the Gaza Strip, supported by the Peace Council.
“The reason President Trump’s peace plan was able to end the war in Gaza was because it was based on a strategically coherent concept,” Blair explained.
Hamas in its current composition cannot play any role in the governance of Gaza, the former prime minister stressed.
“We need Hamas to agree to the process of demilitarization of Gaza and comply with its terms. And we need Israel to live up to its commitments in the same process,” he said.
Blair said it was necessary to help the parties “create the conditions for peaceful coexistence.”
“That’s why we developed this plan for Gaza. If implemented, Gazans will be able to live in prosperity, and Israel will be safe. That is why we also need to solve the problem in the West Bank so that the Palestinians there can also share this prosperity and peace,” the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom emphasized.