The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Open Briefing
This afternoon (13 May), the Security Council will hold a briefing under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). The meeting was requested by the Council’s European members—Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia, and the UK—and supported by Algeria to discuss the humanitarian situation and the protection of aid workers in Gaza. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) New York Liaison Office Director Angélica Jácome are expected to brief. Israel, the Observer State of Palestine, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are expected to participate in the meeting.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has significantly deteriorated since Israel halted the entry of all humanitarian aid and resumed large-scale military operations following the expiry of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas over two months ago. In his briefing today, Fletcher may cite the most recent situation update published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), dated 7 May, which said that the renewed fighting has resulted in hundreds of casualties, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and large-scale displacement, with over 428,000 people newly displaced since the resumption of hostilities on 18 March. Children—who make up approximately half of Gaza’s population—face the worst humanitarian crisis since the beginning of the war in October 2023, with a “growing risk of starvation, illness and death”, as a third of UN-supported community kitchens have shut down between 27 April and 6 May due to depleted food supplies and limited access to fuel. In this context, Fletcher may reiterate key messages from his 1 May statement, in which he stressed: “[b]locking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support. It strips them of dignity and hope. It inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills”.
Jácome is likely to highlight the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) special snapshot—published yesterday (12 May) and covering the period between April and September—which found that Gaza is at a “critical risk” of famine. According to the analysis, the entirety of Gaza’s population is expected to face “crisis” or worse acute food insecurity (classified as IPC Phase 3 or above), including 22 percent of the population classified as “catastrophe” (IPC Phase 5). This marks a significant deterioration compared to the previous IPC analysis, published in October 2024, which projected that, between September 2024 and April, 93 percent of Gaza’s population would face “crisis” levels or worse, including 12 percent classified as “catastrophe”. The current snapshot says that Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance has reversed the “temporary alleviation of acute food insecurity and malnutrition conditions” achieved in parts of Gaza during the ceasefire.
On 7 May, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff held an informal briefing for Security Council members on efforts to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Subsequently, in a 9 May press conference, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced that a “process” was underway to resume the delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory. While he did not confirm the operational details of the arrangement, he accused Hamas of previously diverting aid and emphasised that the new modality under development would ensure safe and effective delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza’s civilian population.
A briefing document provides additional information about the proposed mechanism, which would bypass the existing delivery architecture run by the UN and its humanitarian partners and be coordinated through a new private entity called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would deliver aid at four “secure distribution sites”. Each site would initially provide food, water, hygiene kits, and “potentially” fuel to 300,000 people, reaching a total of 1.2 million Gazans, with “plans to scale” to eventually serve the territory’s entire population of approximately 2 million people. According to the briefing document, private contractors would provide “[o]n-site and perimeter security” at each distribution centre, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would not be stationed at or near the locations, “maintaining the neutral and civilian-facing nature of operations”. In his press conference, however, Huckabee said that the IDF “will be involved in keeping the parameter [sic] safe”.
While Huckabee described the proposed mechanism as a US-led initiative that Israel supported but would not oversee, Israeli officials have previously floated their own plan to resume humanitarian operations in Gaza under stricter oversight and monitoring to prevent diversion by Hamas. The UN and other humanitarian organisations opposed that modality—details of which have not been publicly confirmed—rejecting the accusation of aid diversion and citing mechanisms already in place to ensure that aid is delivered to intended recipients. In a 4 May statement, the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)—a strategic decision-making forum led by the Humanitarian Coordinator for the OPT that brings together heads of UN entities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)—reiterated its opposition to the Israeli plan, saying that it “contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic—as part of a military strategy”. The statement emphasised that the plan would “driv[e] civilians into militarized zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement”. At the time of writing, it remained unclear whether and how the US proposal would address such concerns.
At today’s meeting, Fletcher, Jácome, and many Council members are likely to reiterate their calls on Israel to fulfil its obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) to restore humanitarian access to Gaza in a manner consistent with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality. They may stress that the application of these principles is necessary to ensure that aid is widely accessible and safely delivered on the basis of independent needs assessments.
Concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza have been compounded by Israel’s recent announcement of its intention to escalate its ongoing military operation. On 5 May, the Israeli government approved plans to deploy thousands of additional troops to seize and occupy more territory as part of its campaign to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages it is holding and to further degrade the group’s military and governing capabilities. The operation would reportedly entail moving Gaza’s entire civilian population to a single “humanitarian area” in the southern part of the enclave or facilitating their “voluntary” transfer to other countries. In a 7 May statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that the reported details of the operation “further aggravate concerns that Israel’s actions are aimed at inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza as a group”. Some speakers may express similar concerns at today’s meeting, arguing that any transfer of civilians under current circumstances would not be voluntary and noting that the forcible displacement of civilians in armed conflict may constitute a war crime under IHL.
Israeli officials have indicated that they will delay this next phase of the military operation until US President Donald Trump concludes his four-day visit to the Middle East, which began yesterday and includes stops in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The delay is apparently intended to allow additional time for ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas to restore the ceasefire and facilitate the release of the remaining hostages. Those talks—which Egypt, Qatar, and the US have mediated—remain deadlocked as Hamas has pushed for a new ceasefire agreement that permanently ends the war, while Israel insists that it will only agree to a temporary truce unless Hamas disarms, a demand that the group has rejected.
Despite the impasse in negotiations, yesterday Hamas released Edan Alexander—the last living hostage with dual US-Israeli citizenship—following direct negotiations with the Trump administration. In an 11 May social media post, Trump described Hamas’ decision to release Alexander as a “step taken in good faith” towards ending the war. At today’s meeting, the US and several other Council members are likely to welcome Alexander’s release while reiterating their call on Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release the remaining 58 hostages, of which at least 20 are believed to still be alive.
The direct US-Hamas negotiations to secure Alexander’s release may reflect emerging tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While the US remains Israel’s closest ally and has publicly expressed full support for the country’s renewed military operation in Gaza—which it is expected to reaffirm today—recent shifts in US regional policy appear to have strained relations between the countries. Notably, Trump will not visit Israel during his current trip to the Middle East.
