Statement by The Rt Hon , Secretary of State for
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, at the UN Security
Council meeting on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Yesterday, alongside other ministers here in New York this
week, I hosted a session to hear from doctors who have
recently returned from Gaza, and the stories they
told will stay with me forever.
One told of the screams of toddlers. And a scream of a
toddler who she had operated on without full
anaesthetics, and how she hoped and prayed that he would not
feel pain.
Another told the seriously malnourished pregnant women,
affecting their babies.
And they talked about doctors and nurses whose family
members were killed, but who still came back to work in
hospitals in unimaginable conditions to help others.
And they told of how the absolute basics of modern medicine, like
antibiotics and anaesthetics, things that we around this Council
table take for granted for ourselves and our loved
ones, were unavailable. Blocked and denied.
And we say the words “humanitarian crisis,” but this is what it
means: the pain and the screams of a toddler who cannot get
the basic health care that they need.
And only 18 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza now remain
open – all of them struggling to operate amidst severe shortages
of fuel, medicine, equipment, and staff.
Over 1,700 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza,
more than 300 detained. This is what the catastrophic
collapse of Gaza's healthcare system looks like.
And as we are gathered here, Israeli forces are
escalating the conflict in Gaza City, pounding more homes into
rubble, sending frightened families scattering.
It is incomprehensible. It is inhumane. It is utterly
unjustifiable. And it must end.
All that this action from the Israeli Government will do is
make a catastrophic humanitarian situation worse.
More healthcare in crisis.
Harder than ever to get desperately needed aid to those who need
it.
More innocent children enduring a man-made famine.
More civilians killed.
But making it harder to get the remaining hostages out.
Hostages who are still being held, who were seized by Hamas on
the barbaric terrorist attack of October 7th and are
still being held in the most horrendous
conditions, prolonging the anguish for their
families, and I reiterate our condemnation of Hamas and that
barbaric terrorism on October 7th.
I met with some of the UK-linked hostage families again
last week. Their ask of all of us is to keep the
hostages at the forefront of our minds, to do everything
we can, to give their loved ones the chance of coming
home, and to achieve a ceasefire that gives them the chance
to do that.
And that must be our task.
We know what needs to be done. We need a ceasefire now. We need
the release of all the hostages. We need the
immediate restoration of aid and support for medical care.
And we need a broader framework for the
lasting peace.
And I welcome and support mediation efforts being made
by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to seek an end to conflict
and to seek peace.
We know too that Gaza cannot be seen in isolation from the
West Bank. The Israeli government is tightening its stranglehold
on the Palestinian economy and continuing to approve illegal
settlement construction, including just recently in the E1 area
of East Jerusalem, which is a further blow to the
viability of the two-state solution, and we urge Israel
to reverse these plans.
After two years of bloodshed, I believe the world is united in
wanting this awful war to end.
United in wanting all the hostages released.
United in rejection of any role for Hamas in the
future of Gaza or the future of a Palestinian state.
United in wanting Israel to unblock aid and end the humanitarian
catastrophe.
And united in wanting a better and more peaceful future for the
region, with the reconstruction of Gaza, the dignity for its
people, and a new era of
relations to support their collective
security.
And that future must be based on
a two-state solution.
The UK's historic recognition of the state of Palestine this
week is part of our commitment to peace.
Part of acting to protect the viability of the two-state solution
as the only path to a just and lasting peace and to
security for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Part of rejecting extremist ideas
on all sides, which involve too
often fantasies of the destruction of the State of
Israel or expulsion of the Palestinian population, we reject
both of those.
And part of our wider effort to work with partners on
a long-term peace, not just to halt the immediate
crisis but an advance a pragmatic plan for what comes
next.
None of this can happen without an immediate
ceasefire, and that is where all of this has to start.
One of the doctors yesterday described the impact on children of
growing up in trauma and devastation. And those will be the
consequences on generations to come if we do not act now.
We owe it to all of those children growing up in Gaza, across
Palestine, across Israel.
We owe it to all of them to build a better future.
The time for peace is now.
