Israeli envoy rips 'feigned concern' about Gaza at UNSC

Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador Jonathan Miller on Tuesday criticized United Nations Security Council members for what he called the “weaponization” of concern regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip.

During a UNSC session to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Miller told council members it was time for the international community to take seriously the commitment to secure the freedom of the remaining hostages being held in the Strip.

The purpose of the meeting, called by Algeria and Somalia, and supported by China, France, Guyana, Pakistan and Slovenia, was “not to seek truth, but to indulge the political agenda of certain members of the council,” he said. “Any discussion of humanitarian suffering that does not begin with the release of the hostages is not an honest discussion,” he added.

Israel decided on March 2 to halt the entry of aid into Gaza, citing Hamas’s refusal to accept a proposal by U.S. special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to extend the first phase of a multi-phase ceasefire agreement.

Israel conducted a series of airstrikes overnight Monday, killing a number of senior Hamas officials. The terrorist group claims over 400 people died.

Miller noted on Tuesday that despite the ban on the entry of aid to the Strip, there was no shortage of food. Some 25,000 aid trucks entered Gaza over the six weeks of truce, along with fuel and other supplies, he said.

“The massive amounts of humanitarian aid which Israel coordinated and facilitated—at least those amounts which have not been seized by Hamas, have reached every segment of Gaza’s population—with one tragic exception: the hostages,” said Miller.

Dorothy Shea, chargé d’affaires ad interim for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said on Tuesday that “the blame for the resumption of hostilities lies solely with Hamas.”

The terrorist group “[prefers] still to hold hostages captive and hide amongst the people of Gaza, using them as human shields. It is the people of Gaza who will suffer further because of Hamas’s disregard for human life,” she said.

She made the remarks after Tom Fletcher, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, called Israel’s blockade of aid “unconscionable.”

Fletcher also noted that the United Nations has only been able to fund four percent of what it says is needed for its humanitarian response.

A number of council members were critical of Israel’s resumption of airstrikes and its ban on the entry of aid. James Kariuki, the United Kingdom’s U.N. deputy ambassador, said, “For Israel to be secure, these terrorists can have no role in Gaza’s future. But cutting off aid and resuming the fighting is not a means to this end.”

The Security Council is set to meet again on Friday for its regular monthly session on the Israeli-Palestinian file.

Israel’s U.N. mission told JNS that freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi is scheduled to brief the Security Council on Thursday morning in an open meeting.

© JNS