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STORY: UN / PALESTINIAN QUESTION
TRT: 09:21
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 28 APRIL 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
28 APRIL 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari addressing Council,
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA):
“The tension and hostilities that have happened at the Middle East over the past weeks have shifted the tension from the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Away from the spotlight, the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is steadily worsening. The population in Gaza faces ongoing and deadly Israeli strikes and dire humanitarian conditions, while in the West Bank, violence, including rampant settler violence, displacement and accelerating settlement activity are threatening entire communities and further eroding the prospects for a political process that will resolve the conflict on the basis of a viable two-state solution.”
5. Med shot, Khiari addressing Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA):
“Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing violence. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, since the ceasefire began, approximately 800 Palestinians, including more than 200 children and seven humanitarian personnel have been killed as a result of Israeli strikes, shelling and gunfire. The Israel Defence Forces has stated that its strikes have targeted Hamas militants and facilities. Meanwhile, the humanitarian needs on the ground remain overwhelming. Some 1.8 million people, nearly the entire population of Gaza, are displaced and living in IDP camps and are dependent on aid amid ongoing hostilities, devastated infrastructure and rising public health risks.”
7. Med shot, Khiari addressing Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA):
“The frequency and severity of settler attacks continue to increase. Entire Palestinian communities, now routinely facing lethal violence, vandalism and harassment, often in the presence of Israeli soldiers or with their participation. I note the recent expression of concern by some Israeli officials regarding settler violence and call on the authorities to take immediate action to stop the violence.”
9. Med shot, Khiari addressing Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA):
“Six peacekeepers, four Indonesians and two friends serving with the entry force in Lebanon have been killed since the 2nd of March, with several more injured. We reiterate our strong condemnation of all attacks on peacekeepers and extend our deepest condolences to their family and friends, as well as to the governments and people of Indonesia and France. Attacks on peacekeepers are unacceptable and must be promptly investigated so that those responsible must be held accountable.”
11. Wide shot, Khiari addressing Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA):
“Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains central to achieving durable peace in the region, as it continues to fuel instability across the Middle East. The meetings of 20 April of the Global Alliance for the implementation of the Two-State Solution and the AD Hoc Liaison Committee, underscored the ongoing commitment of the international community to preserving what has been built over the past decades, identifying and reversing the deeply destructive current trends on the ground, and finding ways to translate political will into concrete policy steps on the ground, backed by financial commitments.”
13. Wide shot, Council, Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide on screen
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Espen Barth Eide, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Representative of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, Norway:
“Resolution 2803 welcomed the establishment of the Board of Peace in Gaza. While some states have joined the Board of Peace, other states like my own, have chosen not to join. Still, we are convinced that we need to work together to implement this critical resolution that we all support. I would like to commend the United States for their essential role in reaching the ceasefire last October. Continued strong US engagement is key in order to move forward, as highlighted in the HLC meeting last week. Hamas weapons must be decommissioned. This is essential for the plan to work, but this again must happen in a context. The mediators’ efforts must be supported so that full recovery and the aspirations of the Palestinians can move forward. Coordinated donor support is critical to humanitarian relief, recovery and reconstruction in Gaza.”
15. Wide shot, Board of Peace Member Tony Blair addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Blair, Member, Executive Board, Board of Peace:
“The reason President Trump's peace plan succeeded in bringing the war in Gaza to an end was that it was based on a strategically coherent framework. It was clear after October 7th that Israel would never tolerate a situation in which the organisation responsible would continue in power, and clear also that a perpetual cycle of conflict would destroy any possibility of a decent future for Gaza's people.”
17. Wide shot, Blair addressing Council
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Blair, Member, Executive Board, Board of Peace:
“Were Hamas to change to agree that the goal of a Palestinian state should be pursued through political negotiation, and that such a state should live in peace with the State of Israel, it would be free to engage with the politics of Gaza, as with any other party which accepts these internationally agreed principles. But until it does so, it cannot. It follows from this that Hamas and every other armed group in Gaza should disarm, decommission weapons as part of what is a Palestinian-led process with monitored and verified implementation.”
19. Wide shot, Blair addressing Council
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Blair, Member, Executive Board, Board of Peace:
“So, we need Hamas to agree with the process of demilitarisation of Gaza and to abide by its terms. And we need Israel to abide by its obligations under that same process. Once there is agreement that will unlock immediately vital progress for the people of Gaza, additional humanitarian aid material, new medical facilities, greater freedom at the crossings, including Rafah. The stage withdrawal of Israeli forces and entry into Gaza of the NCAG.”
21. Wide shot, Council
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Varsen Aghabekian, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, State of Palestine:
“As we embark on phase two of the ceasefire, we reiterate our vision of one state, one government, one law and one gun, and the need for full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Gaza is an integral part of Palestine, and transitional arrangements must be conducive to the reunification of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the Palestinian Authority, as foreseen by this Council, leading to Palestinian self-determination and independent statehood. After so much death, destruction, displacement and devastation, it is time for life, healing, recovery and reconstruction.”
23. Med shot, Bahrein Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Varsen Aghabekian, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, State of Palestine:
“This Council, the General Assembly, and the International Court of Justice have all condemned annexation. Yet annexation is underway in legislation, in policies and in measures, in full defiance of the law and of the will of the international community. It destroys Palestinian community and the prospects for peace.”
25. Med shot, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon addressing Council
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“Extremist violence by Israelis exists, but it is significantly smaller in scale compared to the scale of attacks carried out by Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria. Yet that is not how this issue is presented. The term we will hear in this Council - settler violence, how many times is used as a blanket label? It suggests that an entire community is defined by violence. That is simply not true.”
27. Med shot, Danon addressing Council
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“Israel prefers diplomacy. We have entered direct negotiations with Lebanon for the first time in decades. We are grateful to the United States for advancing these talks. But diplomacy cannot exist in a vacuum. While we negotiate, Hezbollah continues to fire at our civilians. As long as that continues. Israel will act to defend its people.”
29. Med shot, Danon addressing Council
30. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“We are facing a coordinated terrorist threat on multiple fronts. The threat is real. It is immediate. It is existential. We will continue to act to protect our people and defend our state.”
31. Wide shot, Council
Board of Peace Member Tony Blair told the Security Council that Hamas must “agree with the process of demilitarisation of Gaza and to abide by its terms,” while Israel must “abide by its obligations under that same process” in order to “unlock immediately vital progress for the people of Gaza.”
Addressing the Council’s quarterly open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,” Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari today (28 Apr) said, “the tension and hostilities that have happened at the Middle East over the past weeks have shifted the tension from the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” but, “away from the spotlight, the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is steadily worsening.”
Khiari said, “the population in Gaza faces ongoing and deadly Israeli strikes and dire humanitarian conditions, while in the West Bank, violence, including rampant settler violence, displacement and accelerating settlement activity are threatening entire communities and further eroding the prospects for a political process that will resolve the conflict on the basis of a viable two-state solution.”
He said, “civilians continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing violence” and noted that since the ceasefire began, “approximately 800 Palestinians, including more than 200 children and seven humanitarian personnel have been killed as a result of Israeli strikes, shelling and gunfire,” while “humanitarian needs on the ground remain overwhelming.”
In the West Bank, the Assistant Secretary-General said, “the frequency and severity of settler attacks continue to increase” as “entire Palestinian communities, now routinely facing lethal violence, vandalism and harassment, often in the presence of Israeli soldiers or with their participation.”
In Lebanon, he said, “six peacekeepers, four Indonesians and two friends serving with the entry force in Lebanon have been killed since the 2nd of March, with several more injured.”
Khiari said, “resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains central to achieving durable peace in the region, as it continues to fuel instability across the Middle East,” adding that the meetings of the Global Alliance for the implementation of the Two-State Solution and the AD Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) on 20 April “underscored the ongoing commitment of the international community to preserving what has been built over the past decades, identifying and reversing the deeply destructive current trends on the ground, and finding ways to translate political will into concrete policy steps on the ground, backed by financial commitments.”
The Representative of the AHLC, Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, noted that “while some states have joined the Board of Peace, other states like my own, have chosen not to join.”
Still, Eide said, “we are convinced that we need to work together” to implement this resolution 2803.”
He commended the United States “for their essential role in reaching the ceasefire last October” and said, “continued strong US engagement is key in order to move forward, as highlighted in the HLC meeting last week, “and stressed that “Hamas weapons must be decommissioned.”
Blair, for his part said, “the reason President Trump's peace plan succeeded in bringing the war in Gaza to an end was that it was based on a strategically coherent framework. It was clear after October 7th that Israel would never tolerate a situation in which the organisation responsible would continue in power, and clear also that a perpetual cycle of conflict would destroy any possibility of a decent future for Gaza's people.”
He stressed that “were Hamas to change to agree that the goal of a Palestinian state should be pursued through political negotiation, and that such a state should live in peace with the State of Israel, it would be free to engage with the politics of Gaza, as with any other party which accepts these internationally agreed principles.”
Blair said, “it follows from this that Hamas and every other armed group in Gaza should disarm, decommission weapons as part of what is a Palestinian-led process with monitored and verified implementation.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian told the Council that “as we embark on phase two of the ceasefire, we reiterate our vision of one state, one government, one law and one gun, and the need for full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”
Aghabekian stressed that Gaza “is an integral part of Palestine, and transitional arrangements must be conducive to the reunification of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the Palestinian Authority, as foreseen by this Council, leading to Palestinian self-determination and independent statehood.”
“After so much death, destruction, displacement and devastation,” she said, “it is time for life, healing, recovery and reconstruction.”
Aghabekian said, “this Council, the General Assembly, and the International Court of Justice have all condemned annexation,” yet, she added, “annexation is underway” in Israeli legislation, policies and measures, “in full defiance of the law and of the will of the international community.”
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon for his part said, “extremist violence by Israelis exists, but it is significantly smaller in scale compared to the scale of attacks carried out by Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria. Yet that is not how this issue is presented. The term we will hear in this Council - settler violence, how many times is used as a blanket label? It suggests that an entire community is defined by violence. That is simply not true.”
Danon said, “Israel prefers diplomacy. We have entered direct negotiations with Lebanon for the first time in decades. We are grateful to the United States for advancing these talks. But diplomacy cannot exist in a vacuum. While we negotiate, Hezbollah continues to fire at our civilians. As long as that continues. Israel will act to defend its people.”
He said, “we are facing a coordinated terrorist threat on multiple fronts. The threat is real. It is immediate. It is existential. We will continue to act to protect our people and defend our state.”
