United Nations, 16 July 2025(Kamran Raja): We thank Under-Secretary-General, Tom Fletcher and Executive Director Russell, for the compelling briefings. We appreciate and support your work. To properly describe the situation – was beyond vocabulary. The situation was beyond belief – unimaginable – in this time and age. We support your calls – primarily for standing unequivocally with international law and international humanitarian law and for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Gaza teeters on the brink of total devastation—a man-made catastrophe where death stems not only from bombardment, but from the systematic dismantling of the conditions necessary for life. Over 58,000 people have been killed, more than 138,000 wounded, and entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble. Hospitals are barely functioning as supply chains collapse. Starvation is being used as a tool of war. And aid—the last lifeline for millions—has itself become a perilous pursuit. Just this past week, on 12 July, dozens of civilians were reportedly killed when Israeli forces opened fire near an aid distribution queue in Gaza City. Men, women, and children were waiting in the blistering heat for food. Instead, they found death. This is not an isolated incident—it is part of a pattern that underscores the urgent need for change.
On another sweltering July morning, seven-month-old Salam lay motionless in her mother’s trembling arms—her tiny ribs protruding like fragile twigs beneath skin drawn thin by hunger. Her sunken eyes, too weak to cry, flickered faintly as UNRWA health workers rushed to assist her at a bomb-damaged clinic. For weeks, her family had wandered the rubble-strewn streets for infant formula—without success. Aid distribution points had none; UN-run centers were either inaccessible, out of supplies, or under threat. As doctors worked frantically to stabilize her, Salam’s breathing grew shallower, her faint whimpers fading into silence. By nightfall, she was gone—one of 67 children lost to starvation in the past month, while thousands of aid trucks remained stuck at Gaza’s borders, obstructed by bureaucratic delays and militarized checkpoints. Salam’s death was not an isolated tragedy. It was the foreseeable result of a system that has allowed hunger to become a weapon of war—a reality so grotesque that experienced medics are now grappling with the levels of malnutrition they once only saw in textbooks.
I wish to highlight five urgent points.
First, the current aid mechanism is clearly failing those it claims to serve. According to the UN Human Rights Office, 798 aid-related killings have occurred since late May—615 of them at or near distribution sites. The prior UN-coordinated system of more than 400 well-networked distribution points has been dismantled. In its place, a heavily restricted system under the GHF now operates with just a handful of designated aid sites.
This forces desperate civilians to traverse active combat zones in search of basic necessities. While some aid has trickled into Gaza, the volume is vastly inadequate. Its implementation is flawed, and it falls far short of the standards demanded by international humanitarian law. Most gravely, the system has morphed into a death trap.
Second, the denial of life-saving assistance—particularly infant formula—has reached indefensible levels. Newborns face imminent risk of death by starvation. This form of deprivation cannot be justified under any circumstance. Immediate, unimpeded access must be granted for the delivery of essential supplies.
Third, Gaza is in the grip of a worsening shortage of medical supplies, shelter, and fuel. On 12 July 2025, UN agencies issued a stark warning: fuel reserves have reached critical lows, threatening to shut down hospitals, water and sanitation systems, telecommunications, bakeries, ambulances, and humanitarian operations. For a population of 2.1 million, this is a catastrophic tipping point. Fuel, medical aid, and shelter materials must be allowed in without delay.
Fourth, the current aid mechanism sets a dangerous precedent. Replacing neutral, UN-led humanitarian operations with a militarized, selectively coordinated structure undermines the neutrality and impartiality that are cornerstones of humanitarian law. The consequences will reverberate beyond Gaza—endangering civilian protections in future conflicts.
Fifth, and most critically, this catastrophe is not inevitable. It is the result of deliberate choices, policies and activities of Israel the occupying power, it can—and must—be reversed.
The international community must act, and without delay. The objectives are clear and widely shared: An immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire; The lifting of the blockade and restoration of full, unhindered, and impartial humanitarian access, in accordance with international humanitarian law—especially through the UN system, including UNRWA; The release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, without delay or condition; Unambiguous rejection of all illegal policies and actions of the occupying power, including forcible displacement of Palestinians; And finally and most fundamentally, addressing the root cause of this crisis: the prolonged occupation and denial of Palestinian rights. A just and lasting peace in the Middle East requires the realization of the two-state solution, with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. In this regard we look forward to the high level conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France and hope that it still yields immediate outcome. The world cannot stand by as Gaza is starved and shattered. Let’s us not grow numb to the daily toll—it is not just another headline, another ticker, another statistic. Behind each number is a life: a person with a story, a dream extinguished, a family torn apart.
History will judge us anyway by our actions, let us be judged not by silence and passivity, but by our being on the side of humanity and international law.