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STORY: UN / GAZA PALESTINIAN QUESTION
TRT: 8 :22
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGAUGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1.Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
03 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2.Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“I am appalled by the recent killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, which raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military. There must be an independent, prompt and thorough investigation into the killings, and those responsible for any violation of international law must be held to account.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“The Israeli military continues to strike camps for people who have been displaced numerous times, who have nowhere safe to go. The Israeli military also continues to force civilians to move. Half of Gaza is now under mandatory evacuation orders or has been declared a no-go zone. These orders fail to comply with the requirements of international humanitarian law. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups continue to launch indiscriminate rockets from Gaza into Israel, in breach of international humanitarian law. I am also deeply concerned about the fate and wellbeing of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“I am alarmed by the inflammatory rhetoric by senior Israeli officials around seizing, annexing and dividing territory, and about transferring Palestinians outside Gaza. This raises grave concerns about the commission of international crimes and runs counter to the fundamental principle of international law against the acquisition of territory by force. In Resolution 2735 passed last June, this Council rejected any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“I urge the immediate restoration of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza. I warn again that there is a high and increasing risk that atrocity crimes are being committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Under the Geneva Conventions, States have an obligation to act when a serious violation of international humanitarian law has been committed. Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, State parties have the responsibility to act to prevent such a crime, when risk becomes apparent. I urge all those with influence to ensure the protection of civilians as a matter of absolute priority. It is essential that there is full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. All those arbitrarily detained must also be released. Israel must refrain from any acts amounting to forcible transfer of Gaza’s population.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Younes Al-Khatib, President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society:
Many Council Members have called for a thorough and independent investigation, we reiterate this call and believe this is the minimum that the Security Council and the international community should demand on the way to hold those responsible to account.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Younes Al-Khatib, President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society:
“We call on the Council members individually and collectively to take action to ensure respect for international humanitarian law. Three, enforce existing mechanisms and tools at the disposal of the member states to ensure protection of humanitarian and aid workers and end impunity. Four, we call on the Security Council and on the whole international community to spare no effort to return to the ceasefire and to the end of violence immediately. Five, we call for the immediate resumption of aid delivery and the opening of border crossings.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Chargé d ’Affaires ad interim, United States Mission to the United Nations:
“The Council should speak with one voice to apply pressure on Hamas too, for the first time, act in the interests of the Palestinian people they purport to represent, and not in the interests of their own selfish ends.”
16. Various shots, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Chargé d ’Affaires ad interim, United States Mission to the United Nations:
“As it relates to the West Bank, the United States supports the efforts of the Israel Defense Forces to root out violent extremists in Jenin and Tulkarem. We call on the Palestinian Authority to finally carry through on its announcement to end the practice of offering cash payments to the families of those who have carried out terrorist attacks, which for far too long incentivize violence against Israeli civilians and setback the prospects of peace.”
18. Wide shot, Security Council
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“Massacre after massacre after massacre. Israel’s objective is clear - maximum despair to convince the Palestinian population that the only alternative to death is displacement out of Gaza.”
20. Wide shot, Security Council
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“Palestinians want life. They want the genocide to end. They want the horrors to stop. They want to be treated as human beings. They want to mourn their dead and to try to find a way back to life. They are shouting it out to anybody willing to hear. Israeli bombs make no distinction. For them all Palestinians are guilty and all of them deserve to die.”
22. Wide shot, Security Council
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“Mr. president, Palestinians are standing tall in the face of this occupation made storm to uproot them or kill them where they stand. But they are tired, exhausted, mourning and suffering. They are heroes, but not superheroes. They are humans and they are victims. They need support and protection now more than ever.”
24. Wide shot, Security Council
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“We will never allow Hamas to rebuild under the false cover of human rights. Those days are long gone. We will not apologize for fighting terrorist commanders. We will not hesitate to dismantle Hamas's machine. Piece by piece. Neighborhood by neighborhood, until the threat is gone.”
26. Wide shot, Security Council
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“This war will not end on the UN timeline. It will end when the 59 remaining hostages are released and Hamas is removed from power. There is no easy solution to a terrorist problem. There is no ceasefire agreement that can hold while innocent people remain in captivity. We are dealing with a vicious, sophisticated enemy with no redlines, no limits, no value for human life. We will do all that is necessary to defeat this dark force. We will act with determination until we bring back our hostages. Every single one of them.”
28. Wide shot, Security Council
UN human rights chief Volker Türk called for “an independent, prompt and thorough investigation” into the killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers in Gaza, stating that “those responsible for any violation of international law must be held to account.”
High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today (03 Apr) told Council members that he is “appalled” by the recent killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, “which raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military.”
Türk said, “The Israeli military continues to strike camps for people who have been displaced numerous times, who have nowhere safe to go. The Israeli military also continues to force civilians to move.”
“Half of Gaza is now under mandatory evacuation orders or has been declared a no-go zone,” the UN human rights chief added.
He reiterated, “these orders fail to comply with the requirements of international humanitarian law.
Türk also highlighted, “Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups continue to launch indiscriminate rockets from Gaza into Israel, in breach of international humanitarian law.”
He said, “I am also deeply concerned about the fate and wellbeing of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.”
The High Commissioner is also “alarmed by the inflammatory rhetoric by senior Israeli officials around seizing, annexing and dividing territory, and about transferring Palestinians outside Gaza.”
“This raises grave concerns about the commission of international crimes and runs counter to the fundamental principle of international law against the acquisition of territory by force,” he added.
Türk highlighted, “in Resolution 2735 passed last June, this Council rejected any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza.”
The High Commissioner urged “the immediate restoration of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza.”
He warned again that “there is a high and increasing risk that atrocity crimes are being committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The human rights chief stressed, “Under the Geneva Conventions, States have an obligation to act when a serious violation of international humanitarian law has been committed.”
Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, he continued, “State parties have the responsibility to act to prevent such a crime, when risk becomes apparent.”
Türk urged all those with influence to “ensure the protection of civilians as a matter of absolute priority,” adding that “it is essential that there is full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
“All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. All those arbitrarily detained must also be released. Israel must refrain from any acts amounting to forcible transfer of Gaza’s population,” he concluded.
President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Dr. Younes Al-Khatib, also briefed the Council.
He echoed many Council Members’ call for a thorough and independent investigation of the killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, reiterating that “this is the minimum that the Security Council and the international community should demand on the way to hold those responsible to account.”
Dr. Al-Khatib also called on the Council members “individually and collectively to take action to ensure respect for international humanitarian law,” and to “enforce existing mechanisms and tools at the disposal of the member states to ensure protection of humanitarian and aid workers and end impunity.”
The President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society also called on the Security Council and on the whole international community to “spare no effort to return to the ceasefire and to the end of violence immediately.”
He called for “the immediate resumption of aid delivery and the opening of border crossings.”
For her role, Dorothy Shea, Chargé d ’Affaires ad interim at the United States Mission to the United Nations, said, “The Council should speak with one voice to apply pressure on Hamas too, for the first time, act in the interests of the Palestinian people they purport to represent, and not in the interests of their own selfish ends.”
Moving onto West Bank, the Chargé d ’Affaires ad interim stated that her country “supports the efforts of the Israel Defense Forces to root out violent extremists in Jenin and Tulkarem.”
She called on the Palestinian Authority to “finally carry through on its announcement to end the practice of offering cash payments to the families of those who have carried out terrorist attacks, which for far too long incentivize violence against Israeli civilians and setback the prospects of peace.”
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour also spoke at the Council.
He said, “Massacre after massacre after massacre. Israel’s objective is clear - maximum despair to convince the Palestinian population that the only alternative to death is displacement out of Gaza.”
Ambassador Mansour reiterated, “Palestinians want life. They want the genocide to end. They want the horrors to stop. They want to be treated as human beings. They want to mourn their dead and to try to find a way back to life. They are shouting it out to anybody willing to hear.”
“Israeli bombs make no distinction. For them all Palestinians are guilty and all of them deserve to die,” he added.
Ambassador Mansour also said, “Palestinians are standing tall in the face of this occupation made storm to uproot them or kill them where they stand. But they are tired, exhausted, mourning and suffering.”
“They are heroes, but not superheroes. They are humans and they are victims. They need support and protection now more than ever,” the Palestinian Ambassador added.
For his part, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon highlighted that his government “will never allow Hamas to rebuild under the false cover of human rights. Those days are long gone.”
“We will not apologize for fighting terrorist commanders. We will not hesitate to dismantle Hamas's machine. Piece by piece. Neighborhood by neighborhood, until the threat is gone,” Ambassador Danon reiterated.
He also said, “This war will not end on the UN timeline. It will end when the 59 remaining hostages are released and Hamas is removed from power.”
Ambassador Danon told the Council that “there is no easy solution to a terrorist problem. There is no ceasefire agreement that can hold while innocent people remain in captivity.”
“We are dealing with a vicious, sophisticated enemy with no redlines, no limits, no value for human life. We will do all that is necessary to defeat this dark force. We will act with determination until we bring back our hostages. Every single one of them,” the Israeli Ambassador stressed.
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