The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Briefing and Consultations
On Wednesday morning (26 August), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). The anticipated briefers are Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator at the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) Ramiz Alakbarov, Board of Peace (BoP) High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov, and a civil society representative. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
Alakbarov is expected to update Council members on recent developments in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where settlement expansion and settler violence have continued at historically high levels. An anticipated focus is the 18 August publication by Israel’s housing ministry of tenders for 1,234 of the 3,401 housing units approved for a settlement in the E1 area, which covers approximately 12 square kilometres between East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. The E1 project—which had been under consideration for decades but not implemented due to international pressure—was approved in August 2025 by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said that it was intended to “permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state”. In his most recent quarterly report on the implementation of resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016, dated 24 June, the Secretary-General warned that the E1 settlement would effectively sever the connection between the northern and southern West Bank, presenting “an existential threat to the two-State solution”. The deadline for bids is 19 October, eight days before Israel’s general elections, which are scheduled for 27 October, potentially preventing a future government from overturning any tenders issued.
The announcement of the tenders drew widespread international criticism. On 19 August, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric said that the Secretary-General was “deeply alarmed” by the development and called on Israel to refrain from further steps in this regard. On 20 August, the European Commission (the executive cabinet of the European Union) and 15 countries—including Council members France, Greece, and the UK, as well as incoming member Austria—issued a joint statement describing the decision as unacceptable, urging Israel to retract the plans, and warning businesses of the legal and reputational consequences of bidding for construction tenders in the E1 settlement. In a 21 August joint statement, eight Arab and Islamic states—including Council member Pakistan—rejected the E1 plan and called on the Security Council and all states to act to halt settlement expansion. On Wednesday, the majority of Council members are likely to deliver similar messages.
Alakbarov may also describe continuing settler violence. In his briefing to the Council on 11 August, he told members that 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, had been killed in the West Bank in 2026 and that the UN had documented more than 1,430 incidents involving Israeli settlers that had resulted in casualties, property damage, or both, affecting approximately 260 Palestinian communities. He observed that accountability for such crimes “remains rare”, while welcoming the 6 August indictment of an Israeli settler in connection with the July 2025 killing of a Palestinian community activist. In the West Bank village of Qusra, since 9 August, settlers have surrounded three Palestinian households comprising about 15 people, including a US citizen and two children under the age of seven, cutting off water and electricity and isolating them under siege-like conditions. UN teams reached and delivered assistance to the three families on 16 August, but they reportedly remain surrounded by Israeli forces and settlers.
All three briefers are expected to update Council members on the situation in Gaza, where periodic violence has persisted despite the ceasefire. According to the most recent update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), dated 14 August and citing local health authorities, 1,259 Palestinians have been killed and 4,148 injured since the ceasefire was announced in October 2025, including seven people killed and 28 injured between 5 and 12 August.
Alakbarov may refer to the 19 August announcement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct in Gaza and made determinations in five cases. It had decided to refer two high-profile incidents to the military police for criminal investigation: the January 2024 killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, six of her family members, and two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics; and the March 2025 killing of 15 emergency response personnel, including one UN employee, in southern Gaza. It had declined to open criminal investigations in three other cases, including the April 2024 killing of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff—a decision that the organisation as well as several countries condemned. While criminal referrals of IDF conduct are a rare step, such investigations seldom result in convictions, according to independent monitoring groups.
Alakbarov and the civil society representative are also likely to provide an update on humanitarian conditions in Gaza, which remain dire. A survey conducted in July by the UNICEF-led Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster found that 90 percent of Gaza’s population was experiencing moderate-to-high water insecurity, up from 84 percent in June. A 20 August report by the Shelter Cluster found that 94 percent of the population—1.98 million people—require shelter and basic household assistance and that only one in ten households had received such support in the prior month. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which leads the Shelter Cluster, restrictions on the entry of shelter materials and equipment, combined with funding shortfalls, have kept assistance “far below the level of need”. At the time of writing, the UN’s 2026 flash appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) was less than 40 percent funded, having received $1.62 billion of the $4.06 billion requested.
Mladenov is expected to brief on efforts to advance the implementation of resolution 2803 of 17 November 2025, which endorsed the US-brokered “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” and created the BoP—chaired by US President Donald Trump—as a “transitional governance administration” in the enclave. On 30 July, the BoP and the mediating countries—Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, and the US—announced that they had reached an agreement with Hamas on a 15-point roadmap for implementing the next phase of the Comprehensive Plan, including Hamas’ disarmament and the withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.
The roadmap’s content and political prospects appear unclear, however. Following a meeting between Mladenov and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 3 August, the BoP issued a statement that appeared to modify certain terms of the roadmap, such as its sequencing, in Israel’s favour. On 9 August, Netanyahu cast further doubt on his commitment to the plan, reportedly stating that “Israel is ruling out the 15-point document”. Trump adviser and BoP Executive Board member Jared Kushner met with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and Netanyahu on 16 and 17 August, respectively, apparently without resolving the central impasse: Israel insists that Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Hamas maintains that implementation of the roadmap depends on Israel first halting attacks and withdrawing.
At Wednesday’s meeting, most Council members are expected to condemn the E1 tenders and settler violence, reiterate that settlements are illegal under international law, and call for the restoration of a credible political path towards a two-state solution, recalling resolution 2334, the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the New York Declaration that the General Assembly endorsed in September 2025. Some may press for concrete accountability measures for settler violence and settlement expansion, which Council members such as the UK have signalled their willingness to take. Regarding Gaza, some members may welcome the two criminal referrals announced by the IDF as belated yet important steps towards accountability, while some may also criticise the IDF’s decision to close its review of the killing of WCK staff. Several members are likely to reiterate their support for the 15-point roadmap and call for the prompt and reciprocal implementation of its commitments.
The US, for its part, will likely be less critical of Israel, although it may reiterate its opposition to Israeli annexation of the West Bank. It might also stress the need for Hamas to disarm and describe progress towards the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan, including recently committed US funding for the stalled International Stabilization Force (ISF) that resolution 2803 authorised the BoP to establish but which has yet to deploy.
