The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Ministerial-level Open Debate
Tomorrow (17 July), the Security Council will hold its quarterly open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”. Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of July, has chosen to hold the meeting as a ministerial-level signature event. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will chair the meeting. The Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet, Earle Courtenay Rattray, is expected to deliver remarks on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres.
Recent developments in Gaza are likely to be a key focus of tomorrow’s open debate. Rattray is expected to provide an update on the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where a high risk of famine persists according to a recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report. He may highlight challenges that the UN is facing in responding to the humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza. In line with previous UN messages, Rattray might describe such issues as movement and access restrictions, the safety of humanitarian personnel, intensified fighting, fuel shortages, and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza.
Some Council members might refer to recent mass casualty incidents in Gaza, such as the 13 July Israel Defense Forces (IDF) airstrikes in the Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis—an area designated as a “humanitarian zone” by the IDF—which resulted in the killing of 90 people, half of them women and children, according to figures provided by Palestinian officials in Gaza cited by OCHA. Israeli authorities said that the attack targeted Hamas military commanders, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ military wing) Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, whom Israel views as one of the architects of the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack against Israel. This claim is reportedly rejected by Hamas, which has accused Israel of targeting civilians.
In a 14 July statement following a visit to one of the medical facilities treating Palestinians injured in the strikes, Scott Anderson, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator and Director of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Affairs in Gaza, said that he had “witnessed some of the most horrific scenes” he had seen in his nine months in Gaza, including “toddlers who are double amputees, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment, and others separated from their parents”. A 13 July statement issued by the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory noted that the use by the IDF of “weapons with wide area effect in densely populated areas, despite the overwhelming evidence that these means and methods have led to disproportionate harm to civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure, suggests a pattern of willful violation of the disregard” of the international humanitarian law (IHL) principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.
Tomorrow, several participants are likely to demand that the conflict parties respect IHL—including the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution—and stress the paramount importance of protecting civilians. Some members may also reference recent IDF-issued evacuation orders and reject the continued displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. Participants may also reiterate their condemnations of the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks.
Council members and Rattray are expected to reiterate calls for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages. Members may also call for the implementation of the Security Council’s resolutions on the war, including resolution 2735 of 10 June, which welcomed a three-phase ceasefire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden on 31 May. While the parties have since been negotiating the proposed deal through indirect talks in Egypt and Qatar, they have yet to reach agreement, with media reports offering contrasting assessments on the status of the negotiations.
More generally, tomorrow several participants are likely to stress the need for a political horizon towards a two-state solution and some might make proposals in this regard.
Rattray is also expected to provide an update on the situation in the West Bank. Among other issues, he and Council members may refer to recent decisions by the Israeli authorities advancing settlement activity, including to declare 12.7 square kilometres of land in the West Bank as “state lands”—the largest such designation since the 1993 Oslo Accords—and the decisions to expand existing settlements by over 5,000 housing units and establish three new settlements. Members are likely to urge Israel to cease all settlement activity and argue that settlements erode the prospects for a two-state solution. Some might echo recent condemnatory statements on this issue by international interlocutors such as the League of Arab States (LAS), the EU, and the G7.
Some participants may refer to the annual UNRWA pledging conference, which took place on 12 July in New York. In his remarks at the conference, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini described the severe challenges that the Agency is facing, including the fact that nearly 190 of its installations in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, “killing more than 500 people seeking United Nations protection”, and that UNRWA’s premises have been used for military purposes by Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, as well as by Israeli forces. He also referred to “[a]rbitrary measures imposed by Israel” restricting the movement of Agency staff in the West Bank as well as legislative proposals to evict UNRWA from its East Jerusalem premises and label it a terrorist organisation. He noted in this regard that UNRWA is being “targeted because of its role in safeguarding the rights of Palestine Refugees, and because it embodies an international commitment to a political solution”.
Lazzarini also addressed the suspension of funding by 16 UN member states following allegations by Israel that some UNRWA employees were involved in the 7 October 2023 attacks, noting that “almost all” of these member states have since resumed their funding. He said, however, that UNRWA’s “fundamental fiscal challenge remains”, a reference to the chronic lack of funding for the Agency. In remarks to the press after the pledging conference, Lazzarini said that he believes that UNRWA will have sufficient resources to function until the end of September.
Tomorrow, participants might call for increased financial support for UNRWA, and some may mention the initiative of shared commitments on UNRWA. This initiative, which is aimed at expressing political support for UNRWA, is led by Jordan, Kuwait, and Council member Slovenia, and is supported by over 110 UN member states, including all the members of the Security Council. At tomorrow’s meeting, some members may also underscore the need for the conflict parties to respect the inviolability of UN premises.
Council members and Rattray are also likely to express concern at the rising tensions across the Middle East, including along the Blue Line, and call for de-escalation. (While not representing an international border, the Blue Line acts in practice as a boundary between Lebanon and Israel in the absence of an agreed border between the two states.)
In the coming days, Council members are likely to watch closely developments at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is expected to deliver on 19 July its Advisory Opinion on the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”. The UN General Assembly requested the Advisory Opinion in December 2022.
