The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: High-level Briefing
Tomorrow afternoon (23 September) at 1:00 pm, the Security Council will hold a briefing on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). The meeting—which will take place on the first day of the General Debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly—was requested by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members of the Security Council: Algeria, Guyana, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and Somalia. Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is expected to chair the meeting, and other Council members have been encouraged to participate at ministerial level. Secretary-General António Guterres is the anticipated briefer. Although Israel usually participates in MEPQ meetings under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, the country will reportedly not do so tomorrow since the meeting coincides with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.
Tomorrow’s meeting will take place amid several significant developments, including Israel’s launch of an operation to take over Gaza City; a failure by the Security Council to adopt a draft resolution on the situation in Gaza due to a US veto; and declarations of recognition of the State of Palestine by numerous UN member states.
Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza City began on 15 September and followed several days of intensified bombardment of the area that targeted residential buildings, tents, schools, displacement camps, and other public infrastructure, which the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) described as “destroying the last viable element of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, negating any prospect for the survival of civilians”. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing local health authorities, 416 Palestinians were killed between 10 and 17 September, pushing the total death toll in the enclave since the beginning of the war in October 2023 past 65,000. (For background and more information, see our 18 September What’s in Blue story.)
At tomorrow’s meeting, many speakers are likely to express grave concern about the impact of Israel’s expanded military campaign on the already devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has deteriorated rapidly since the end of the last ceasefire, when Israel imposed a blockade on the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into the territory. In late August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine is occurring in Gaza governorate—the metropolitan area that includes Gaza City—and was projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September. While Israel has since eased some of the restrictions it had previously imposed on the entry of humanitarian aid, remaining bureaucratic obstacles, as well as looting and insecurity, continue to seriously impede aid delivery, according to OCHA. The office reported that 28,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children under five had been identified in July and August, exceeding the combined total of malnutrition cases identified in the first six months of 2025.
Tomorrow, many speakers are also likely to refer to the 16 September report of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem, and Israel, which concluded that Israeli authorities have committed genocide in Gaza. The report found evidence of four of the five genocidal acts listed in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
Against this backdrop, most speakers at tomorrow’s meeting are expected to reiterate their calls for progress in the stagnated ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which have been mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US. Under the latest ceasefire framework proposed by the US in early September, the parties would reportedly agree to a 60-day truce, with Hamas releasing the approximately 50 hostages it is still holding during the first two days in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees in Israel, a surge in humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the beginning of discussions on the terms of a permanent end to hostilities. On 8 September, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that Israel had accepted the latest US proposal. The following day, Israel launched a strike against Hamas’ political leadership in Doha, Qatar, who were meeting there to discuss the group’s response to the proposal. Hamas claimed that the attack failed to kill senior officials, while confirming the deaths of five lower-level members.
On 10 September, the Security Council held an urgent briefing on the strike. Members also issued a press statement that condemned it—without attributing responsibility to Israel—and expressed solidarity with Qatar, underscoring the importance of releasing the hostages and ending the war. On 15 September, the OIC and the League of Arab States (LAS) held an emergency summit in Doha that resulted in a communiqué also condemning the strike and calling on states to “take all possible legal and effective measures to prevent Israel from continuing its actions against the Palestinian people”.
By contrast, although the US had supported the Security Council’s 10 September press statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later signalled the US’ continued support for Israel’s actions when he declined to publicly denounce the country for the Qatar strike and cast doubt on the prospects of a ceasefire, saying during a 15 September joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US was “not counting on” reaching a diplomatic agreement that would result in Hamas’ disarmament—Israel’s key demand for ending its military campaign, which the US has echoed. Subsequently, on 18 September, the US vetoed the draft resolution submitted by the Council’s ten elected members (E10) that called for a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, again highlighting the distance in positions between the US and other Council members on the war.
Speakers at tomorrow’s meeting are also likely to focus on the situation in the West Bank, where violence has intensified in parallel with the escalation in Gaza. According to OCHA, as at 15 September, 186 Palestinians and 16 Israelis have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the West Bank so far this year. Between 9 and 15 September, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted raids in the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqiliya, and other areas, resulting in school closures, widespread arrests, and several casualties, including children. Israeli authorities also carried out punitive demolitions and sealed homes, while dozens of new road closures threatened to further restrict Palestinian movement. Additionally, OCHA documented 25 settler attacks, injuring 13 Palestinians and displacing 33 others. Since October 2023, more than 3,000 Palestinians—half of them children—have been displaced in the West Bank due to settler violence and access restrictions, according to OCHA.
Another expected focus of tomorrow’s meeting is the need to address the root causes of the violence in the OPT as well as the wider region by reviving a credible political process towards the realisation of the two-state solution. On 12 September, the General Assembly endorsed the outcome document of the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution by a vote of 142 in favour, ten against, and 12 abstentions. The declaration sets out a roadmap envisioning a ceasefire, the release of hostages, the disarmament of Hamas, Palestinian statehood, and normalisation between Israel and Arab states.
In this regard, Australia, Canada, Portugal, and the UK announced their formal recognition of the State of Palestine yesterday (21 September), joining the approximately 140 countries that have already done so. Additional countries—including Belgium, France, and Luxembourg—are also expected to extend recognition during this week’s General Debate of the General Assembly or the resumed session of the two-state solution conference, which is taking place this afternoon (22 September). In response, some Israeli officials have threatened to annex the West Bank, a move that the Knesset (Israeli parliament) already called for in a non-binding resolution that it adopted in July.
