UN chief uses rare power to warn Security Council of impending ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used rarely exercised power to warn the Security Council on Wednesday of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

His letter to the 15-member council said Gaza’s humanitarian system was at risk of collapsing after two months of war that has created “atrocious human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma,” and demanded that further damage be avoided. to civilians.

Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, which says the secretary-general can report to the council on matters he believes threaten international peace and security. “The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis,” he said.

U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said he hopes the secretary-general will address the Security Council on Gaza this week and press for a humanitarian ceasefire.

A brief draft resolution distributed to council members on Wednesday night by the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council, would act on Guterres’ letter under Article 99. It calls for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and expresses “serious concern about the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population.”

Earlier Wednesday, the U.N.’s 22-nation Arab Group strongly backed a ceasefire.

Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said it is essential for the UN’s most powerful body to demand an end to the conflict.

But the United States, Israel’s closest ally, has veto power in the Security Council and has not supported a ceasefire.

On Tuesday, Deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters that the Security Council’s role in the Israel-Gaza war “is not to impede this important diplomacy that’s happening on the ground… because we’ve seen some results, although not as good results as we want to see.”

A Security Council resolution at this time, he said, “would not be helpful.”

Mansour said a ministerial delegation from Arab nations and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation will be in Washington on Thursday to meet with U.S. officials and press for an immediate ceasefire.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said the secretary-general invoked Article 99 to pressure Israel, accusing the UN chief of “new low morale” and “bias against Israel”.

“The secretary general’s call for a ceasefire is actually a call to maintain Hamas’ reign of terror in Gaza,” Erdan said in a statement. “Instead of the Secretary General explicitly pointing out Hamas’ responsibility for the situation and calling on the terrorist leaders to surrender and return the hostages, thus ending the war, the Secretary General chooses to continue playing into Hamas’ hands. ”.

In his letter, Guterres denounced “the abhorrent acts of terror” and the brutal murder of more than 1,200 people in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7 and the kidnapping of some 250 people in the attack that started the war. He urged the immediate release of more than 130 people still held captive.

But Guterres highlighted the worsening state of Gaza due to Israel’s ongoing military action, which he says is aimed at destroying Hamas. More than 16,200 people have been killed and around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced to increasingly smaller areas.

“Amid constant shelling by the Israel Defense Forces, and without shelter or the essentials for survival, I expect that public order will soon completely collapse due to the desperate conditions, making even limited humanitarian assistance impossible,” Guterres warned.

A complete collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, he said, would have “potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”

Dujarric, the UN spokesman, earlier told reporters that invoking Article 99 was “a very dramatic constitutional move by the secretary-general.” The only previous mention of Article 99 was in a December 1971 report by then General Secretary U Thant to the council. Dujarric expressed his conviction that the situation in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and the Indian subcontinent threatens international peace and security.

“One does not invoke this article lightly,” Dujarric said. “I think that, given the situation on the ground and the risk of a total collapse, not only of our humanitarian operations but also of civil order, it is something that he felt was necessary to do now.”