UNITED NATIONS, Jul 17 (APP): In a moving statement before the UN Security Council, Pakistan has called on the international community to act decisively to save the people of Gaza from their acute suffering, invoking the judgment of history.
“History will judge us anyway— by our actions, let us be judged not by silence and passivity, but by our being on the side of humanity and international law,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 15-member Council on Wednesday.
“Gaza teeters on the brink of total devastation—a man-made catastrophe where death stems not only from bombardment, but from the systematic dismantling of the conditions necessary for life,” he said during a debate on the humanitarian situation in the war-devastated enclave.
“The world cannot stand by as Gaza is starved and shattered,” the Pakistani envoy said, pointing out that over 58,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, more than 138,000 wounded, and entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble.
“Let’s us not grow numb to the daily toll—it is not just another headline, another ticker, another statistic,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said, adding that behind each number is a life: a person with a story, a dream extinguished, a family torn apart.”
“The international community must act, and without delay,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said, calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire; the lifting of the blockade and restoration of full, unhindered, and impartial humanitarian access, especially through the UN system, including UNRWA; the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, without delay or condition; unambiguous rejection of all illegal policies and actions of the occupying power, including forcible displacement of Palestinians; and finally and most fundamentally, addressing the root cause of this crisis: the prolonged occupation and denial of Palestinian rights.
“A just and lasting peace in the Middle East requires the realization of the two-state solution, with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. In this regard we look forward to the high-level conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France and hope that it still yields an immediate outcome.”
At the outset, Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said there was no “vocabulary” left to adequately describe conditions on the ground.
“Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families. Field hospitals receive dead bodies, and medical workers hear stories firsthand from the injured – day after day after day,” he said.
Starvation rates among children reached their highest levels in June, with more than 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished.
“Last week, amid this hunger crisis, children and women were killed in a strike while waiting for the food supplements to keep them alive.”
UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell told the Council that an average of 28 children are killed in Gaza every day – “the equivalent of an entire classroom.”
Over the past 21 months, more than 17,000 children have been killed and 33,000 injured across Gaza.
Many of those children, she said, were struck “as they line up for lifesaving humanitarian aid – further proof that there is no safe place for civilians anywhere in Gaza.”
“Children are not political actors. They do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. But they suffer greatly, and they wonder why the world has failed them,” she added.
“And make no mistake, we have failed them.”
Gaza’s health system “is shattered,” Fletcher reported – only 17 of 36 hospitals and 63 of 170 primary health centres are even partially functioning; shortages mean up to five babies share one incubator.
Seventy per cent of essential medicines are out of stock, half of all medical equipment is damaged, pregnant women are giving birth without care, women and girls manage their periods without basic supplies.
Meanwhile, water production capacity has plummeted leaving the entire enclave (95 per cent) facing water insecurity.
“With clean water increasingly difficult to access, children have little choice but to drink contaminated water,” Ms. Russell said, noting that this is increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.
In his remarks, the Pakistani envoy said the current aid mechanism is clearly failing those it claims to serve, saying a heavily restricted system under the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) now operates with just a handful of designated aid sites. “Most gravely, the system has morphed into a death trap.”
The denial of life-saving assistance—particularly infant formula—has reached indefensible levels, with newborns facing imminent risk of death by starvation, he said , while calling for an immediate, unimpeded access for the delivery of essential supplies.
Fuel reserves have reached critical lows, threatening to shut down hospitals, water and sanitation systems, telecommunications, bakeries, ambulances, and humanitarian operations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said. “Fuel, medical aid, and shelter materials must be allowed in without delay.”
The current aid mechanism has replaced a neutral, UN-led humanitarian operations with a militarized, selectively coordinated structure undermines the neutrality and impartiality. “The consequences will reverberate beyond Gaza—endangering civilian protections in future conflicts.”
Asserting that this catastrophe is not inevitable, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said, “It is the result of deliberate choices, policies and activities of Israel the occupying power, it can—and must—be reversed.”