UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned of the potential that public order “could soon be completely broken down in Gaza” following ongoing military aggression there since October 7. He assessed that the never-ending aggression could also threaten global security.
This rare warning was conveyed by Guterres in a letter to the UN Security Council on Wednesday (6/12/2023), as reported by AFP and reported by CNN Indonesia. The letter refers to Article 99 of the UN Charter which states "the Secretary General of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security."
“Amid constant bombardment by the Israeli army (IDF), and without shelter or the essentials for survival, I predict public order will soon break down due to these deplorable conditions,” Guterres wrote. "So even limited humanitarian assistance is impossible," he said.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Guterres also highlighted the potential for humanitarian conditions amidst Israel's military aggression against Gaza to rapidly deteriorate to the point of becoming a disaster for the Palestinian people as a whole. "Worse situations could occur, including epidemic diseases and increasing pressure for mass evacuations to neighboring countries," Guterres said.
Guterres, who has been in office since 2017, also urged Security Council members to press efforts to prevent a humanitarian disaster, highlighting that the health care system in Gaza is collapsing and there is no effective protection of civilians. “Current conditions make any meaningful humanitarian operation impossible,” the letter said, adding that “nowhere is safe in Gaza.”
The spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric, emphasized that there was "no safe place" for Palestinians to flee, due to Israeli attacks since Monday (4/12/2023) or after the ceasefire ended. Most recently, the Israeli military expelled residents from the north because it wanted to expand operations in southern Gaza. The southern area was the destination of northern Gaza residents when Israel expelled them last November. Now, the condition of northern Gaza is in ruins.
Dujarric also said the UN was "very concerned" by the latest fighting between Israel and Hamas after the end of the ceasefire. "The UN continues to appeal to Israeli forces to avoid further actions that would worsen the already very bad humanitarian situation in Gaza," he said, quoted by Middle East Eye.
Israel also carried out aggression in the West Bank
The UN, he said, was also concerned about increasing violence in the West Bank. Israeli troops shot dead four Palestinians, two of them teenagers, in the north of the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed these figures on Wednesday (6/12/2023).
They revealed details of the injuries of residents who were shot dead by Israel, such as Omar Abu Bakr (16 years old) who was killed with "a bullet in the chest fired by the (Israeli) occupation army in Yabad." Another victim was Abdul Nasser Mustafa Riyahi (24 years old) who died of injuries after being shot at the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli troops stormed the camp on Wednesday (6/12) morning and surrounded a house. “The confrontation occurred when soldiers opened fire on Palestinians and injured four people. One of them later died from his injuries," he said.
Earlier, the health ministry said Israeli forces had killed two Palestinians elsewhere in the northern West Bank. They were Abdul Rahman Imad Khaled Bani Odeh (16 years) and Moath Ibrahim Zahran (23 years) who were killed by Israeli gunfire in the village of Tamun and the nearby Al-Fara refugee camp.
Violence by Israeli parties in the West Bank has increased since the Zionist military aggression in the Gaza Strip on October 7. The Palestinian Authority says Israeli fire and settler attacks in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, have killed more than 250 Palestinians since the conflict began in early October 2023. (Source: CNN Indonesia)
