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STORY: UN / GAZA HUMANITARIAN RESOLUTION
TRT: 05:34
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 DECEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, UN Headquarters
22 DECEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lana Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United Arab Emirates:
“Let's be clear. In the coming period, unless we take drastic action, there will be famine in Gaza. This war and the unbearable price being paid by Palestinian civilians - 60, 70 percent of whom we know are women and children - is also having a significant impact on neighbouring countries. Regional spillover is a real possibility. We are seeing it already, including in the West Bank, where almost 300 Palestinians, including 75 children, have been killed.”
4. Wide shot, Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Lana Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United Arab Emirates:
“All possible land, sea and air routes into Gaza must be utilized to allow lifesaving aid to enter. This includes ensuring that the Kerem Shalom, Karem Abu Salim crossing remains open in full with this Council's backing. But even if trucks are going in at scale, if deconfliction does not happen, aid simply cannot reach those who need it. Current deconfliction efforts are clearly not working, if 136 UN workers have lost their lives because of it.”
6. Wide shot, text of Russian amendment being distributed to Council members
7. Wide shot, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield addressing Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“The United States, as you see, we did not support the amendment put forward by Russia. We believe the humanitarian resolution before us calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. This is a strong step forward, and we believe the council should speak out in the amendments, in the resolution that's been put before us and move forward.”
9. Various shots, Council vote
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“Today, this Council made clear that all hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally, and that humanitarian groups must be able to access hostages, including for medical visits. Today, this Council made clear that all parties must respect international humanitarian law. Today, this Council made clear that civilian and humanitarian facilities, including hospitals, medical facilities, schools, places of worship, and UN facilities, as well as humanitarian personnel and medical personnel, must be protected. This applies to all parties, to this conflict, to Israel, but also to Hamas.”
11. Wide shot, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour addressing Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“What we are dealing with is an attempt at the destruction of our people and their displacement forever from their land. This is Israelis’ goal. It's true objective. No future for Palestinians in Palestine. That is why it is bombing everyone and everything. That is why it targets homes, hospitals, schools, bakeries, agricultural fields, water and sanitation networks so that sustenance of life becomes impossible, and it has become impossible.”
13. Wide shot, Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“Gaza is like a patient whose wounds you are trying to treat while the killer keeps shooting at them. You need to stop the killer, or you will never be able to save the patient.”
15. Wide shot, Israeli Ambassador Brett Jonathan Miller addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Brett Jonathan Miller, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“Israel will not permit the regrouping and rearming of Hamas as the atrocities of October 7th can never be allowed to repeat themselves. Israel recently exposed another huge Hamas terror tunnel that stretches four kilometres and was constructed 50 meters underground. This terror tunnel is wide enough for vehicles to drive through, can house hundreds of terrorists. The amount of cement and equipment needed to build this tunnel alone is immense. This is just one part of Hamas's subterranean city of terror. The missile and rocket manufacturing facilities and terrorist training complexes across Gaza.”
17. Wide shot, Council
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Brett Jonathan Miller, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“If this Council seeks to end hostilities, it should start by supporting Israel's mission of returning the hostages and eliminating the Hamas threat. At the very least, it must prevent Hamas’ empowerment. Just as this Council is committed to increasing aid, it should also be committed to blocking the smuggling of arms and transfer of weapons to the Hamas terrorists. And just as this Council is committed to ensuring aid reaches Gazan civilians, it should also be committed to ensuring the said aid is not diverted to Hamas terrorists who do not care about the civilian population.”
19. Various shots, end of meeting
The Security Council today (22 Dec) adopted a resolution on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, with 13 votes in favour, and the United States and Russia abstaining. The resolution, among other things, demands immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.
Speaking before the vote, Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, warning over risks of a looming famine. She said, “let's be clear. In the coming period, unless we take drastic action, there will be famine in Gaza. This war and the unbearable price being paid by Palestinian civilians - 60, 70 percent of whom we know are women and children.
Nusseibeh noted that the conflict “is also having a significant impact on neighbouring countries” and said “regional spillover is a real possibility. We are seeing it already, including in the West Bank, where almost 300 Palestinians, including 75 children, have been killed.”
The UAE Ambassador said, “all possible land, sea and air routes into Gaza must be utilized to allow lifesaving aid to enter. This includes ensuring that the Kerem Shalom, Karem Abu Salim crossing remains open in full with this council's backing. But even if trucks are going in at scale, if deconfliction does not happen, aid simply cannot reach those who need it. Current deconfliction efforts are clearly not working, if 136 UN workers have lost their lives because of it.”
An amendment proposed by Russia on the draft resolution failed, having received a negative vote by a permanent member of the Security Council, the United States.
Speaking in explanation of her vote on the amendment, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said her country did not support the proposal by Russia.
Thomas-Greenfield said, “we believe the humanitarian resolution before us calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. This is a strong step forward, and we believe the council should speak out in the amendments, in the resolution that's been put before us and move forward.”
After the resolution’s adoption, the US Ambassador said, “today, this Council made clear that all hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally, and that humanitarian groups must be able to access hostages, including for medical visits. Today, this Council made clear that all parties must respect international humanitarian law. Today, this Council made clear that civilian and humanitarian facilities, including hospitals, medical facilities, schools, places of worship, and UN facilities, as well as humanitarian personnel and medical personnel, must be protected. This applies to all parties, to this conflict, to Israel, but also to Hamas.”
In his address to the Council, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said, “what we are dealing with is an attempt at the destruction of our people and their displacement forever from their land. This is Israelis’ goal. It's true objective. No future for Palestinians in Palestine. That is why it is bombing everyone and everything. That is why it targets homes, hospitals, schools, bakeries, agricultural fields, water and sanitation networks so that sustenance of life becomes impossible, and it has become impossible.”
Mansour, who welcomed the adoption of the resolution, said, “Gaza is like a patient whose wounds you are trying to treat while the killer keeps shooting at them. You need to stop the killer, or you will never be able to save the patient.”
For his part, Israeli Ambassador Brett Jonathan Miller said, “Israel will not permit the regrouping and rearming of Hamas as the atrocities of October 7th can never be allowed to repeat themselves.”
He noted that Israel “recently exposed another huge Hamas terror tunnel that stretches four kilometres and was constructed 50 meters underground” which “can house hundreds of terrorists.”
Miller said, “if this Council seeks to end hostilities, it should start by supporting Israel's mission of returning the hostages and eliminating the Hamas threat. At the very least, it must prevent Hamas’ empowerment. Just as this Council is committed to increasing aid, it should also be committed to blocking the smuggling of arms and transfer of weapons to the Hamas terrorists. And just as this Council is committed to ensuring aid reaches Gazan civilians, it should also be committed to ensuring the said aid is not diverted to Hamas terrorists who do not care about the civilian population.”
Ambassador Miller went on to inform Council members that Israel is already facilitating hundreds of truckloads of aid into Gaza every day and that it is also willing and able to increase the entry of aid trucks into the enclave, noting the opening of the Karem Shalom crossing and the entry of dozens of trucks of aid that arrived from Jordan.
