The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Quarterly Open Debate*
Tomorrow (28 July), the Security Council will hold its quarterly open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). The anticipated briefer is Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator at the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) Ramiz Alakbarov.*
Alakbarov is expected to update Council members on developments in Gaza, where violence and dire humanitarian conditions have persisted despite the Israel-Hamas ceasefire that was announced in October 2025. According to the latest update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), dated 23 July and citing local health authorities, 1,180 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect, including 59 people killed between 15 and 22 July alone. In a 23 July special snapshot, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that 1.2 million people (59 percent of Gaza’s population) faced “crisis” or worse conditions (IPC Phase 3 or above) between mid-April and 30 June, rising to a projected 1.4 million (67 percent) between July and December. It added that a surge in humanitarian aid following the ceasefire led to a peak in food security assistance coverage in November 2025 with 2.13 million people reached, but that coverage has since fallen to 1.49 million in May 2026. Further reductions are anticipated due to funding constraints and uncertainty over operational authorisations for dozens of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) that have been de-certified under new Israeli registration requirements.
Alakbarov may also brief on the implementation of resolution 2803 of 17 November 2025, which endorsed the US-brokered “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” and created the international Board of Peace (BoP)—chaired by US President Donald Trump—as a “transitional governance administration” in the enclave. Earlier this year, BoP High Representative to Gaza Nickolay Mladenov and the guarantor countries—Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, and the US—presented to Israel and Hamas a 15-point roadmap to complete the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan. It requires the phased decommissioning of Hamas’ weapons and a phased withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to Gaza’s perimeter, facilitated by the International Stabilization Force (ISF) that resolution 2803 authorised the BoP to deploy.
Hamas has reportedly rejected the disarmament proposal presented in the 15-point roadmap because it considers Israel in breach of its ceasefire obligations by continuing hostilities in Gaza and maintaining restrictions on humanitarian aid. On 6 July, the group announced that it had dissolved its civilian government in the enclave and was preparing to transfer power to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which is the local governing body comprising Palestinian technocrats established in January under BoP oversight. The group did not describe any steps taken by its military wing to address disarmament, however, and the BoP stated in a social media post that it would assess the announcement on the basis of “actions, not promises”, stressing that the NCAG must control all weapons in the territory.
On 20 July, Hamas elected Khalil al-Hayya as head of the group’s political bureau, ending a two-year leadership vacuum after Israel killed the two previous chiefs—Ismail Haniyeh and subsequently Yahya Sinwar—in 2024. While the election of a new leader could facilitate progress in the disarmament talks, it is unclear whether al-Hayya—who was the group’s chief negotiator during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023 and belongs to the group’s Iran-aligned faction—will prompt a change in Hamas’ position.
Although disarmament negotiations remain at an impasse, Israel’s security cabinet approved on 26 July the launch of a pilot phase of the BoP’s plan to restore basic services and provide humanitarian assistance and shelter in areas of Gaza outside Hamas’ control. According to media reports, the pilot is expected to begin in Rafah, which would become the first area administered by the NCAG, whose members have not yet been permitted to enter Gaza from their current base in Cairo. The plan—announced a few days before tomorrow’s scheduled meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump in Washington DC—foresees the gradual relocation of NCAG members to Gaza and the building of temporary residential areas for displaced residents, patrolled by Palestinian police recruited by the NCAG. It also permits the deployment of an initial ISF contingent, numbering about 200 personnel from countries that Israel views as “friendly”, with further deployments requiring Israeli approval. At tomorrow’s meeting, Council members may seek clarity on the pilot’s scope and how it relates to the sequencing of the 15-point roadmap and implementation of the Comprehensive Plan.
Another expected focus of tomorrow’s meeting is the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where settler violence and settlement expansion continue to intensify. According to OCHA’s 23 July update, 18 Palestinians have been killed in incidents linked to settler attacks this year as at 20 July, already exceeding the 17 recorded fatalities during all of 2025. On 14 July, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the allocation of $431 million to fund the expedited establishment of 34 newly approved settlements. In total, the current Israeli government has approved over 100 settlements since 2022 alone—compared with 127 settlements that previous governments had approved since 1967. On 24 July, after four Palestinians and two Israelis were killed in clashes near the West Bank city of Nablus, Netanyahu announced a series of steps, including raids in Palestinian villages suspected of hosting militants and the establishment and legalisation of additional settlement outposts. In a statement issued in response to the incident, Alakbarov called on Israel to prevent settler violence and ensure accountability and on Palestinians to reject violence and incitement.
Speakers are also expected to express concern about the acute fiscal crisis faced by the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel has reportedly withheld a total of $11 billion in Palestinian tax income—known as “clearance revenues”—and frozen bank funds, creating a large budgetary shortfall. Israel has withheld such funds over the years, citing various reasons, and tightened the policy following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Additionally, the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) warned on 23 July of an impending economic collapse after two Israeli banks notified their Palestinian counterparts that they would cease providing correspondent banking services on 1 September and 1 October, respectively. PMA Governor Yahya Shunnar said that these arrangements, which Palestinian banks require to clear Israeli shekel transactions, process $16.6 billion annually and underpin the 90 percent of Palestinian trade that transits Israel. Smotrich has signed only short-term indemnity waivers covering the banks, which are now seeking legal certainty through a permanent legislative solution—an outcome that is considered unlikely prior to Israel’s parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
More broadly, tomorrow’s open debate is likely to reflect familiar political divisions among members. At the Council’s previous meeting on the MEPQ, held on 29 June (S/PV.10186), the US argued that the implementation of resolution 2803 hinges on Hamas’ disarmament, citing findings by UN experts on abuses by Hamas-affiliated forces against Palestinians. Most other members focused on the situation in the West Bank, expressing concern about accelerating settlement expansion—which they warned could sever the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state—record levels of settler violence, and the withholding of clearance revenues. Tomorrow, most Council members are again expected to emphasise that Gaza and the West Bank form a single territorial unit that should be governed by a reformed PA, and to stress the need for tangible political progress towards the realisation of a two-state solution, in line with previous Council decisions and other multilateral frameworks, including the New York Declaration that the General Assembly endorsed in September 2025.
Speakers are also likely to express concern about the precarious regional context. The memorandum of understanding that Iran and the US reached in mid-June to pause hostilities collapsed within a month: after Iran renewed attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump declared the ceasefire “over” on 8 July and resumed strikes on Iran, which retaliated against US military sites across the region. Both sides have again paused attacks in recent days, however, as they reportedly negotiate new modalities to govern transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Tomorrow, many members are likely to stress the need for a diplomatic resolution that secures a sustainable ceasefire, regional stability, and freedom of navigation in the Strait. Some may also raise the risk of escalation in the Red Sea, after the Houthi rebel group in Yemen declared a naval blockade targeting Saudi Arabia on 20 July and two days later claimed attacks on two Saudi-flagged tankers, prompting Saudi-led strikes on Houthi-aligned sites in Yemen.
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*Post-script (28 July, 12:00 pm): An earlier version of this story indicated that the expected briefers at today’s meeting were Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator at the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) Ramiz Alakbarov and Board of Peace (BoP) High Representative to Gaza Nickolay Mladenov. The story has been updated to reflect that only Alakbarov briefed.