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STORY: UN / PALESTINIAN QUESTION
TRT: 8:40
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CHINESE/ ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 10 AUGUST 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
10 AUGUST 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“The latest decision by the Government of Israel risks igniting another horrific chapter in this conflict, with potential consequences beyond Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction – compounding the unbearable suffering of the population. Last night thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv and cities across Israel to call for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“The UN has been unequivocal: the only way to stop the immense human suffering in Gaza is through a full, immediate, and permanent ceasefire. All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, allowing rapid, safe, unimpeded, and large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid to the population. Civilians – including humanitarian workers, and those seeking aid – must be protected.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramesh Rajasingham, Director, Coordination Division, Head and Representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva (OCHA):
“I am extremely concerned over the prolonged conflict and further human toll that is likely to unfold following the Government of Israel’s decision to expand military operations in Gaza. This marks a grave escalation in a conflict that has already inflicted unimaginable suffering.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. Various shots, Israel and Palestine delegations
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramesh Rajasingham, Director, Coordination Division, Head and Representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva (OCHA):
“Given the scale of repeated displacement and current living conditions, preventing the entry of emergency shelter supplies defies the obligation to allow humanitarian relief for the population in need. The health system effectively is collapsed. Hospitals are not protected, doctors have been killed or detained, and facilities are working without sufficient medical supplies. Water and sanitation infrastructure already at the critical failing point before the crisis at almost completely failing and social cohesion is unraveling. How are the people in Gaza expected to survive in these conditions?”
13. Wide shot, Security Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramesh Rajasingham, Director, Coordination Division, Head and Representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva (OCHA):
“States – all those with any influence – must look within our bruised collective conscience and summon the courage to do what is necessary to end this inhumanity and pain. It is also what international law demands.”
15. Med shot, Israel delegation
SOUNDBITE (English) James Kariuki, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United Kingdom:
“As my Prime Minister said, this decision is wrong, and we urge the Government of Israel to reconsider immediately. Expanding military operations will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict. It will not secure the release of the hostages. 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.”
16. Various shots, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Acting United States Representative to the United Nations:
“Remarkably, instead of pressuring Hamas, members of this body have encouraged and rewarded its intransigence, actively prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and the United States, and by handing propaganda victories to terrorists.”
18. Various shots, Palestine and Israel delegations
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Acting United States Representative to the United Nations:
“It is unfortunate that members have again taken advantage of today’s meeting to accuse Israel of genocide. These accusations are politically motivated and categorically false. They are part of a deliberate, cynical propaganda campaign as Hamas attempts to win symbolic victories to compensate for total defeat in war. The United States refutes these allegations entirely.”
20. Wide shot, Security Council
21. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Fu Cong, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations:
“The Israeli government needs to listen to the calls of both international community and its people to immediately stop escalating tensions and put an end to its military operations in Gaza. The country with significant influence over the parties, must uphold a just and responsible stance and take concrete steps to push for a ceasefire.”
22. Wide shot, Security Council
23. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Polyanskiy, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“For the time being, as we understand that despite the assurances of the State Department that they are ‘continuing real and serious diplomatic efforts to end suffering in Gaza, to release the hostages and to achieve a permanent peace’, the United States, quite simply is washing its hand and is giving West Jerusalem carte blanche to have full freedom of action in Gaza.”
24. Wide shot, Security Council
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the UN, State of Palestine:
“How on earth is Israel still allowed to sit around this table and in this United Nations? If it was another country, you would have been imposing sanctions a long time ago.”
26. Wide shot, Security Council
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the UN, State of Palestine:
“The position of Palestine is unequivocal. We reject all harm to civilians, and our civilians are not less civilians. Their lives are not less worthy. We have never justified and always rejected harming Israeli civilians, killing them or taking them hostage. But we reject any attempt to justify the massacres committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians, or its abduction of thousands of Palestinians, or its starvation policy or its displacement policy, or its annexation policy.”
28. Wide shot, Security Council
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Miller, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations:
“The IDF is preparing to take control of Gaza City, while ensuring humanitarian assistance flows to civilians outside combat zones and away from the reach of Hamas. This is not conquest. Israel has no plans or desire to permanently occupy Gaza. This is liberation from a brutal terror regime.”
30. Wide shot, Security Council
31. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Miller, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations:
“In a complete inversion of morality and logic, this body has urgently convened to chastise the one democracy in the Middle East, the nation standing on the frontline of the battle against radical extremist terrorism. If this body truly believes in justice and morality, then let your urgency be directed where it belongs, towards dismantling Hamas, towards freeing our hostages, toward ensuring that such atrocities never happen again. Anything less is not urgency. It is hypocrisy.”
32. Wide shot, Security Council
33. Wide shot, Ambassadors arriving at the podium
34. SOUNDBITE (English) Samuel Žbogar, Representative of Slovenia to the UN Security Council:
“ We condemn the government of Israel's decision to further expand its military operations in Gaza. This plan risks violating international humanitarian law. We call on Israel to urgently reverse this decision and not to implement it. And we reiterate that any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law. Expanding military operations will only endanger the lives of all civilians in Gaza, including the remaining hostages, and resulting further unnecessary suffering.”
35. Wide shot, Ambassadors leaving the podium
Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča said, “The latest decision by the Government of Israel risks igniting another horrific chapter in this conflict, with potential consequences beyond Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Jenča, the Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, spoke at an emergency Security Council meeting today (10 Aug) on the situation in Gaza. The meeting was called by the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia.
On 8 August, Israel’s Security Cabinet reportedly approved Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposed plan for “defeating Hamas” and endorsed five “principles for ending the war. The Prime Minister’s office also announced that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will prepare to take control of Gaza City, while providing humanitarian assistance outside combat zones. The IDF said that it is fully mobilized and preparing for an expanded military operation in Gaza.
Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča said, “If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction – compounding the unbearable suffering of the population.”
He noted that on Saturday night (09 Aug), “thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv and cities across Israel to call for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.”
The Assistant Secretary-General reiterated, “The UN has been unequivocal: the only way to stop the immense human suffering in Gaza is through a full, immediate, and permanent ceasefire.”
“All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally,” he stressed.
Jenča continued, “Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, allowing rapid, safe, unimpeded, and large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid to the population. Civilians – including humanitarian workers, and those seeking aid – must be protected.”
UN top humanitarian Ramesh Rajasingham is “extremely” concerned over the prolonged conflict and further human toll that is likely to unfold following the Government of Israel’s decision to expand military operations in Gaza.
“This marks a grave escalation in a conflict that has already inflicted unimaginable suffering,” Rajasingham said.
He continued, “Given the scale of repeated displacement and current living conditions, preventing the entry of emergency shelter supplies defies the obligation to allow humanitarian relief for the population in need.”
“The health system effectively is collapsed. Hospitals are not protected, doctors have been killed or detained, and facilities are working without sufficient medical supplies. Water and sanitation infrastructure already at the critical failing point before the crisis at almost completely failing and social cohesion is unraveling.” Rajasingham added.
He asked, “How are the people in Gaza expected to survive in these conditions?”
The senior OCHA official stressed, “States – all those with any influence – must look within our bruised collective conscience and summon the courage to do what is necessary to end this inhumanity and pain. It is also what international law demands.”
For his part, UK Ambassador James Kariuki said, “As my Prime Minister said, this decision is wrong, and we urge the Government of Israel to reconsider immediately.”
“Expanding military operations will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict. It will not secure the release of the hostages. 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,” Ambassador Kariuki stressed.
Acting United States Representative Dorothy Shea told the Council that her government believes that today’s meeting is “emblematic of the counterproductive role that far too many governments on this Council and throughout the UN system have played on this issue."
Shea said, “Remarkably, instead of pressuring Hamas, members of this body have encouraged and rewarded its intransigence, actively prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and the United States, and by handing propaganda victories to terrorists.”
“It is unfortunate that members have again taken advantage of today’s meeting to accuse Israel of genocide,” the US Representative said, explaining that “these accusations are politically motivated and categorically false.”
“They are part of a deliberate, cynical propaganda campaign as Hamas attempts to win symbolic victories to compensate for total defeat in war. The United States refutes these allegations entirely,” Shea stressed.
Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong pointed out, “the Israeli government needs to listen to the calls of both international community and its people to immediately stop escalating tensions and put an end to its military operations in Gaza.”
“The country with significant influence over the parties, must uphold a just and responsible stance and take concrete steps to push for a ceasefire,” Ambassador Fu added.
For his part, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy criticized the United States, saying that it “quite simply is washing its hand and is giving West Jerusalem carte blanche to have full freedom of action in Gaza.”
Palestinian Riyad Mansour asked the Council, “How on earth is Israel still allowed to sit around this table and in this United Nations?”
“If it was another country, you would have been imposing sanctions a long time ago,” Ambassador Mansour said.
He continued, “The position of Palestine is unequivocal. We reject all harm to civilians, and our civilians are not less civilians. Their lives are not less worthy.”
Ambassador Mansour added, “We have never justified and always rejected harming Israeli civilians, killing them or taking them hostage. But we reject any attempt to justify the massacres committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians, or its abduction of thousands of Palestinians, or its starvation policy or its displacement policy, or its annexation policy.”
Israeli Ambassador Jonathan Miller told the Council, “the IDF is preparing to take control of Gaza City, while ensuring humanitarian assistance flows to civilians outside combat zones and away from the reach of Hamas.”
“This is not conquest. Israel has no plans or desire to permanently occupy Gaza. This is liberation from a brutal terror regime,” he emphasized.
The Israeli diplomat criticized the Security Council , “in a complete inversion of morality and logic, this body has urgently convened to chastise the one democracy in the Middle East, the nation standing on the frontline of the battle against radical extremist terrorism.”
“If this body truly believes in justice and morality, then let your urgency be directed where it belongs, towards dismantling Hamas, towards freeing our hostages, toward ensuring that such atrocities never happen again,” He said.
“Anything less is not urgency. It is hypocrisy,” Miller said.
Earlier today, Slovenian Ambassador Samuel Žbogar held a joint press encounter with the representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Greece.
Speaking on behalf of the E5 countries, Ambassador Žbogar condemned the government of Israel's decision to further expand its military operations in Gaza. “This plan risks violating international humanitarian law,” he added.
The E5 countries called on Israel to “urgently reverse this decision and not to implement it.”
“We reiterate that any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law. Expanding military operations will only endanger the lives of all civilians in Gaza, including the remaining hostages, and resulting further unnecessary suffering,” Ambassador Žbogar concluded.
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