Israeli troops fire towards the Gaza Strip from their post in Sderot city of Israel (Photo: AFP/VNA) Participants in the openvideoconference included UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, his SpecialCoordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland, andrepresentatives of Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, and the Arab League.
In his opening remarks,Guterres urged the relevant sides to immediately put an end to violence andnoted that the UN is actively discussing with all the parties concerned toachieve a ceasefire.
He voiced his concern aboutthe civilian casualties caused by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip,appealing to leaders of the parties to steer clear of inflammatory statements.
Wennesland reported thatsince May 10, Israel had conducted 950 attacks on Gaza, killing 181Palestinians, including at least 52 children, and injuring 1,000 others. Fortyschools and at least four hospitals had been completely or partly destroyed, 18buildings devastated and over 350 others damaged, while more than 34,000 peoplemade homeless.
The Israeli side had alsoseen nine killed by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.
Expressing their concernsover the recent tensions and risks of spiraling violence, UNSC member statescalled on the parties to exercise maximum self-restraint, avoid causing lossesfor civilians, and respect international law.
Most of the states condemnedthe uncontrolled violence against civilians and civilian infrastructure. Theywere also concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, given the risingcasualties and limited healthcare conditions.
Participants lauded effortsby the UN, countries, and international organisations to persuade the relatedparties to reach a ceasefire and resume negotiations. They reiterated thestance of supporting the two-state solution and appealed for an end to theconflict.
Many states called for theconflict’s root causes to be addressed while highlighting the role of the UN,including the Special Coordinator, the Quartet on the Middle East, as well asthe states in and outside the region that are influential in the relevantparties in settling the current conflict.
For his part, Ambassador DangDinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, expressed his deepconcern over the escalating tensions between Israelis and Palestinians withgrowing casualties.
Vietnam condemns the attackson civilians and civilian infrastructure, he affirmed.
He stressed that whileseeking solutions to the conflict’s root causes, acts of violence must be endedimmediately and all the relevant parties must exercise self-restraint and notcomplicate the situation.
Vietnam asked the parties,particularly Israel, to respect the international humanitarian law and exercisemaximum self-restraint to minimise damage, including to essentialinfrastructure, and avoid civilian casualties as in line with the UNSC’sResolution 2573.
Quy also underlined Vietnam’sappeal to Israel to immediately stop the excessive use of force and anyunilateral act complicating the situation.
The diplomat pointed out thequickly worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, voicing his seriousconcern about the exhaustion of fuel for power plants that may lead to a severecrisis for the healthcare and water supply sectors.
Regarding solutions andefforts by the international community, he called on all members of theinternational and regional communities that have influence on the parties toaugment efforts to avoid risks of a war like in 2014.
The Vietnamese ambassadorunderscored the need to resolve the conflict by peaceful measures and that inthe long run, the only sustainable path for the Middle East peace issue is tocarry out the two-state solution.
He also stressed thenecessity for the UNSC to have a strong and unanimous voice in this regard.
This emergency meeting washeld at the request of 10 UNSC member states, namely China, Estonia, France,Ireland, Norway, Niger, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines, Tunisia, the UK, andVietnam./.
VNA
