The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Closed Consultations
This afternoon (4 February), Security Council members will convene for closed consultations on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). China, the Council’s president for February, scheduled the meeting following the receipt of a letter dated 3 February from the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine regarding recent developments in the West Bank (S/2025/77). The expected briefers are Sigrid Kaag, who at present serves concurrently as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim and Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya.
Following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that went into effect on 19 January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the launch of a “large-scale and significant” military operation in the West Bank called “Iron Wall”. Netanyahu said that the goal of the operation was to “eradicate terrorism” in the city of Jenin, which has seen repeated clashes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian armed groups, particularly around the site of a refugee camp run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). According to a 30 January situation update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli forces have killed 53 Palestinians in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, including 30 people in Jenin, while “nearly all” of the refugee camp’s 20,000 residents have been displaced.
On 2 February, the IDF demolished 23 buildings in the Jenin camp that it described as “terrorist infrastructure”. In a statement issued yesterday (3 February), UNRWA said that “large swathes” of the camp were “completely destroyed in a series of controlled detonations” by the IDF, adding that previous operations conducted both by Israeli and Palestinian security forces had led to the forced displacement of thousands of camp residents, “many of whom will now have nowhere to return to”. According to the statement, UNWRA did not receive advance warning of the detonations, as contact between Agency staff and Israeli authorities is prohibited following the entry into force on 30 January of legislation on UNWRA passed by the Israeli Knesset. (For background on the legislation, see our 16 January and 27 January What’s in Blue stories and the brief on the MEPQ in our November 2024 Monthly Forecast.)
The 3 February letter from the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the Security Council refers to the demolishment of the buildings in the Jenin refugee camp, in addition to other military actions taken by Israel in the West Bank as part of operation Iron Wall, including airstrikes, ground raids, and the imposition of additional checkpoints restricting access to and from West Bank villages and towns. It also describes increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians. According to the letter, as well as the 30 January update from OCHA, these incidents have resulted in the death or injury of children, women, and elderly people, as well as damage to critical infrastructure and the forced displacement of civilians. The letter calls on the Security Council to “act swiftly to protect the Palestinian people” by ending Israel’s military actions in the West Bank and having the country withdraw from Palestinian territory. In a 2 February statement, the IDF said that operation Iron Wall has led to the “elimination” of 35 militants and the arrest of over 100 wanted persons.
Meanwhile, the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues to hold despite tensions. During the first phase of the agreement, which is expected to last until 1 March, Hamas and allied groups will release a total of 33 hostages in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. The most recent exchange occurred on 1 February, with the next scheduled to take place on 8 February. In addition, Israel has withdrawn from population centres in Gaza, allowing displaced Palestinians to return to the northern part of the strip, and the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory has increased. Negotiations on the parameters for the second phase of the agreement—which calls for a permanent ceasefire during which Israel will fully withdraw from Gaza and Hamas will release all remaining hostages in exchange for additional detainees—are scheduled to begin later this week.
Today’s consultations will take place in the context of shifting political dynamics following the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House. On 21 January, his first full day in office, Trump signed an executive order rescinding US sanctions that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had imposed against some Israeli settler organisations and individuals accused of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. During her Senate confirmation hearing the same day, Trump’s nominee for US Permanent Representative to the UN, Elise Stefanik, endorsed the view that Israel has a “biblical right” to the West Bank, which is considered occupied Palestinian territory under international law. Today, Trump is reportedly expected to issue another executive order withdrawing the US from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) and prohibiting funding for UNWRA, reprising two measures that he took during his first term. He will also receive Netanyahu at the White House for a meeting that is expected to focus on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, as well as the wider regional situation in the Middle East, including Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
