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Merci monsieur le Président pour vos mots envers mes collègues sur place, que je leur transmettrai.
Monsieur le Président, mesdames et messieurs les représentants des états
Je remercie la France, et en particulier le Président Emmanuel Macron, pour l'organisation de cette conférence, en espérant qu'ensemble nous réussirons à remédier à la situation catastrophique dans laquelle se trouvent plus de deux millions de personnes civiles à Gaza.
Excellencies,
This has been a painful month for UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees.
99 of my colleagues have been killed in Gaza - the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict in such a short time.
They are among 10,000 people killed since the beginning of the war, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
I was in Gaza last week, for the first time since the war started. I visited an UNRWA school sheltering thousands of people.
It was heartbreaking.
Children used to learn and laugh in this school.
Today, they plead for a piece of bread and a sip of water.
More than 700,000 displaced people live in similar degrading conditions in 150 UNRWA schools and buildings across the Gaza Strip. Our shelters are overcrowded, with little food, water, or privacy.
The appalling sanitary conditions represent a looming public health hazard.
My colleague Maha coordinates logistics in Gaza.
She remains strong when her children ask her every day if they are going to die.
But she struggles with the anxiety that she sees on their faces.
Outside the shelters, entire neighborhoods have been leveled, extinguishing countless lives, hopes and dreams.
Hospitals, churches, mosques, bakeries and UNRWA schools have not been spared.
My colleague Farid is our Education Chief in Gaza.
When he meets his students inside our shelters, they ask him why UNRWA invested so much time teaching them about conflict resolution and human rights, if these values do not apply to them in Gaza?
What should he answer?
Thousands of children killed cannot be "collateral damage".
Pushing a million people from their homes and concentrating them in areas without adequate infrastructure is forced displacement.
Severely limiting food, water and medicine is collective punishment.
It took many countries that have championed international justice too long to call for adherence to international humanitarian law.
At the same time, several countries rushed to call for cutting aid to Palestine, abruptly unplugging an entire system that depends on international aid to survive.
Condemning the horrendous massacre committed by Hamas in Israel is the right thing to do. The UN has done so and continues to call for hostages to be released.
This cannot, however, justify a war that disregards international humanitarian law and promotes dehumanizing rhetoric.
References to Palestinians as (I quote) "terrorists", "human animals" and "people to be erased" is unconscionable and demonstrates a startling lack of empathy.
It poisons the hope of any shared future and fuels anger and resentment in the region and beyond.
Monsieur le President,
I am deeply concerned about the potential spillover of this conflict beyond Gaza.
In the West Bank, military incursions by the Israeli Forces and settler violence have caused record high death tolls among Palestinians.
If we did not have Gaza today, all our attention would be on the West Bank.
And meanwhile, the Lebanese-Israeli border experiences regular exchanges of fire and civilian casualties.
So, Monsieur le President, I am seeking your urgent support for:
First, a humanitarian ceasefire, along with strict adherence to international humanitarian law.
Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including UN facilities hosting displaced people, must be protected and accessible to humanitarian assistance everywhere in Gaza, at all times.
Second, we need a meaningful and continuous flow of humanitarian aid, including fuel.
The volume of aid coming in through Rafah is blatantly inadequate. All crossings should be open, in particular, crossing points with Israel like Kerem Shalom.
But humanitarian aid alone will not cover the needs of people in Gaza.
It must be complemented by the private sector and the restoration of municipal services like water and waste management.
We must reopen commercial lines, so shops and retailers can replenish their stocks.
Third, UNRWA still needs funds.
I thank the countries that announced new contributions in the past weeks.
However, our core budget remains underfunded. The biggest UN Agency in Gaza might not have the funds for staff salaries until the end of the year.
UNRWA is among the last glimmers of hope in Gaza.
5,000 staff continue to run clinics, distribute bread and water, and provide psychosocial support in our shelters. We cannot take the risk of discontinuing our services.
I implore your governments to remain generous and ask those that have excluded the Agency from their contributions to reconsider.
We will hear from Martin Griffiths about the humanitarian Flash Appeal which includes an important component for UNRWA.
Finally, we have to consider the day after.
We must step back from the brink of a spillover before it's too late.
A genuine prospect of Palestinian statehood is critical as you said, Mr. President, to stabilize the region. It is in the interest of all, including Israel, to find a solution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, side by side.
As a humanitarian and development partner, UNRWA will do all it can for the civilians of Gaza.
Thank you.