A senior UN official on Sunday warned the Security Council that Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City could trigger “another calamity” with far-reaching consequences, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained his goal was not to occupy the territory.
The United Nations Security Council convened a rare emergency weekend meeting after Israel confirmed its military would “take control” of Gaza City under a plan approved by Netanyahu’s security cabinet, drawing widespread international criticism.
“If these plans are implemented, they will likely cause another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and leading to further forced displacement, killings, and destruction,” UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the Council.
The UN’s humanitarian office, OCHA, reported that 98 children had died from acute malnutrition since the conflict began in October 2023, with 37 of those deaths occurring since July, according to figures from Gaza’s authorities.
“This is no longer a looming hunger crisis — this is starvation, pure and simple,” said OCHA’s coordination director, Ramesh Rajasingham.
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said “over two million victims are enduring unbearable agony,” calling Israel’s Gaza City plan “illegal and immoral,” and urging that foreign journalists be granted access to the territory.
Netanyahu announced on Sunday that more foreign journalists would be permitted to report from inside Gaza, but only when accompanied by the Israeli military.
Britain, a close ally of Israel that nonetheless requested the emergency meeting, warned the plan could prolong the conflict.
“It will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This is not a path to resolution; it is a path to more bloodshed,” said British deputy ambassador to the UN James Kariuki.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the Israeli plan as “deeply worrying” given the already dire humanitarian and health conditions across the Strip.
Netanyahu stressed that Israel was “talking in terms of a fairly short timetable because we want to bring the war to an end,” reiterating that his country did not intend to occupy Gaza.
Outside UN headquarters in New York, a small but vocal protest calling for an end to the conflict unfolded under a heavy police presence.
The United States, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Council, accused nations supporting the meeting of “actively prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel.”
“Israel has a right to decide what is necessary for its security and what measures are appropriate to end the threat posed by Hamas,” said US envoy to the UN Dorothy Shea.
Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UN Jonathan Miller argued that “pressure should not be placed on Israel, who suffered the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, but on Hamas.”
Algeria’s ambassador, Amar Bendjama, called for sanctions on Israel over its Gaza City plan.
“The hour has come to impose sanctions on the enemy of humanity,” he said.
“If it were another country, you would have imposed sanctions a long time ago,” Mansour added.