Source: United Nations (video statements)
Briefing by Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari today (30 Jun) told the Security Council that “the level of suffering and brutality in Gaza is unbearable,” and “the continued collective punishment of the Palestinian people is unjustifiable.”
Khiari expressed deep concern at “Israeli military operations in Gaza that render large areas of Gaza uninhabitable,” and rejected “the forced displacement of the Palestinian population from any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which would constitute a breach of international law obligations.”
He mourned the United Nations personnel killed in Gaza and “strongly” condemned “the killing of all health and humanitarian personnel and journalists.”
Khiari also condemned “the loss of lives and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza” and called for “an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
He stressed that the United Nations “will not participate in any aid delivery modality that does not comply with the fundamental humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality.”