The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Open Briefing
This afternoon (3 April), the Security Council will hold a briefing on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). Algeria—supported by China, Pakistan, Russia, and Somalia—requested the briefing as an emergency meeting to discuss the escalating situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) President Younes Al-Khatib are the anticipated briefers.
Today’s meeting is expected to focus on developments in light of the resurgence of hostilities in Gaza, including the humanitarian situation and risks to aid workers in the territory. The Council also discussed these issues in a 28 March private meeting requested by France and the UK. (For more information, see our 27 March What’s in Blue story.)
On 19 March, Israel resumed large-scale military activity in Gaza following the expiry of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas that had gone into effect in January. Since the resumption of hostilities, Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have reportedly pushed Gaza’s total death toll since the beginning of the conflict past 50,000, the majority of whom have been women and children, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). In a press briefing yesterday (2 April), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) interim Head of Office in the OPT Jonathan Whittall noted that the hostilities have led to the displacement of an estimated 200,000 people—many of whom had been previously displaced prior to the ceasefire—including approximately 100,000 individuals after Israel issued an evacuation order for the southern city of Rafah on Monday (31 March). According to Whittall, this has left 64 percent of Gaza under evacuation orders or “falling within the so-called buffer zone” claimed by Israel.
Yesterday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced a significant expansion of military activity, including the deployment of an additional Israel Defense Forces (IDF) division to southern Gaza, saying that the aim was to clear areas of “terrorists and infrastructure” and to “capture extensive territory that will be added to the State of Israel’s security areas”. Hamas has condemned the return to hostilities and called for a restoration of the ceasefire while also launching retaliatory rocket fire into Israel.
At today’s meeting, the briefers and many Council members are expected to express alarm at attacks on humanitarian and UN personnel, who have been among the casualties of the renewed fighting. On Tuesday (1 April), Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric reported that OCHA had assisted in a rescue operation in Rafah that had concluded with the recovery of the bodies of 15 emergency response personnel from the PRCS and the UN. Dujarric noted that available information “indicates that the first team was killed by Israeli forces on 23 March, and that other emergency and aid crews were struck one after another over several hours as they reached or tried to reach for their missing colleagues”. In a 1 April statement—which he may echo today—Türk condemned the attack on the aid workers, which he said “raises significant questions with regard to the conduct of the Israeli army during and in the aftermath of the incident”. The attack followed a 19 March strike on a UN compound in Gaza that killed one staff member from the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and wounded six others and the UN’s subsequent decision to reduce its operational footprint in Gaza due to security concerns. The IDF has denied involvement in that strike.
The resurgence of hostilities has compounded existing concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Since 2 March, Israel has prevented the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies into the territory, citing Hamas’ rejection of US proposals to extend the first phase of the ceasefire, as well as the group’s refusal to release the 59 hostages it is still holding. According to OCHA, the halt in aid has “crippled” humanitarian efforts in Gaza, while most movement requests requiring coordination with Israeli authorities have been denied. On 27 March, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that “hundreds of thousands” of people in Gaza were again at risk of extreme hunger and malnutrition as food stocks dwindle. On Tuesday, the agency reported that the 25 bakeries that it had supported during the ceasefire had all closed due to a lack of flour and cooking gas, leaving enough food supplies to last for two weeks “maximum”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the halt in aid and the renewed military operation as a response to Hamas’ rejection of a US proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire, which expired on 1 March. Hamas reportedly described that proposal as a violation of the original ceasefire framework and characterised Israel’s decision to block humanitarian aid as “blackmail” and a “war crime”. According to media reports, the parties have subsequently exchanged a series of modified proposals to halt the hostilities, but they have been unable to reach an agreement. One point of contention concerns the phasing of the ceasefire: while Israel apparently insists on extending the ceasefire’s first phase to facilitate the release of more hostages under a temporary truce, Hamas has sought to advance to the second stage, which would make the ceasefire permanent. Another issue is the post-war governance of Gaza, as Hamas has expressed openness to ceding civilian administration of the territory but reportedly refused Israel’s demand to disarm militarily.
In a statement issued yesterday, Secretary-General António Guterres expressed deep alarm at the “human toll of the intensified hostilities” in Gaza. He condemned the reported killing of over a thousand people since the ceasefire collapsed, as well as the 23 March attack that killed 15 humanitarian personnel. Stressing the obligation of all parties to respect international humanitarian law (IHL), he called for independent investigations into attacks on aid workers, noting that 408 such personnel have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict. He also reiterated his condemnation of the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, while underscoring that “nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”. He repeated his call for the immediate resumption of the ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and the restoration of humanitarian access across Gaza.
Today’s briefers may also reference the situation in the West Bank, where Israel has been conducting what it has described as a large-scale counterterrorism operation since 21 January. During her briefing at the 21 March Council meeting on the implementation of resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim Sigrid Kaag said that the operation is the longest conducted by Israel in the West Bank since 2002 and has included airstrikes, the deployment of tanks, and the destruction of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, displacing 40,000 people from the northern part of the territory. According to OCHA’s latest available humanitarian update on the West Bank, dated 27 March, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2025 has risen to 99, “the majority within the context” of the IDF operation, while seven Israelis—including five IDF soldiers—were killed by Palestinians. More broadly, a report by OHCHR dated 18 March detailed an expansion of Israeli settlements and a rise in settler violence in the West Bank since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict. On Tuesday, three Palestinians were reportedly wounded after “dozens” of settlers raided the village of Duma. The IDF said that it is investigating the incident.
At today’s meeting, many speakers are likely to echo the Secretary-General’s 2 April statement, reiterating serious concern about the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, urging the parties to return to the ceasefire agreement, and stressing the pressing need to lift the halt on aid as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. Speakers are expected to call on the parties to uphold their obligations under IHL, condemn all attacks on humanitarian and UN personnel, and demand thorough and credible investigations into such incidents, reiterating points that several Council members emphasised at yesterday’s briefing on the implementation of resolution 2730 of 24 May 2024, which concerns the protection of humanitarian and UN personnel. Further, in light of recent comments by Israeli officials threatening to annex or incorporate parts of the Gaza Strip into Israel’s security buffer zone, some members may caution against any attempts to alter the OPT’s geographical or demographic makeup, stress the need to maintain the viability of the two-state solution, and call on Israel to abide by its international legal obligations in this regard.
