Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the situation across the Occupied Palestinian Territory was becoming “increasingly precarious”, with violence increasing in both Gaza and the West Bank.
“In Gaza, delays in the implementation of resolution 2803, coupled with daily violence and an ongoing humanitarian crisis, have replaced the initial momentum that followed the ceasefire.” said.
The resolution adopted last November endorsed the US peace plan to end the conflict, authorizing the transitional authority of the Peace Board and endorsing an International Stabilization Force, paving the way for the Israeli withdrawal.
Read more about the resolution here.
As negotiations continue over the next phase of the October ceasefire, Alakbarov warned against any return to large-scale fighting.
“The people of Gaza cannot endure any more wars,” he said. “This scenario should be avoided at all costs.”
Extreme needs continue
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain serious. Nearly a million people across the enclave still need urgent shelter assistancewhile the majority of the population remains displaced.
Significant operational and funding constraints continue to frustrate relief efforts, including delays at checkpoints, damaged roads, and restrictions on critical supplies entering the territory.
The U.N.-coordinated 2026 Flash Appeal, which seeks more than $4 billion to support nearly three million people in Gaza and the West Bank, is only about 13 percent funded.
A broad overview of the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue.
‘No recovery’ yet
Nickolay Mladenov, High Representative of the Junta for Gaza – and UN Special Coordinator in the region until the end of 2020 – told ambassadors that, while the ceasefire had significantly reduced violence and improved access to aid, “there is still no recovery” in Gaza.
“About 80 percent of buildings in Gaza are damaged or destroyed.” he said. “More than a million people do not have permanent shelter. “This morning they live in tents and in the broken rubble of buildings.”
Plan based on ‘reciprocity’
He said the proposed roadmap to implement the transition plan was based on “reciprocity” (each step on one side generates obligations for the other) and stressed that Hamas and all armed groups must eventually be disarmed under Palestinian authority.
“No Palestinian armed group will be required to transfer weapons to Israel,” he said. “They go to NCAG,” in reference to the proposed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
The roadmap also provides for a gradual Israeli withdrawal linked to verified progress in dismantling weapons and deploying the stabilization force.
Mladenov warned that failure to move forward risked entrenching a divided and devastated Gaza.
“The risk is that the deterioration of the status quo becomes permanent,“, he said. “Another generation of children who grow up in tents, with fear, with desperation as the most rational thing they can feel.”
Ramiz Alakbarov (on screen), Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefs the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue.
Attacks and land grabs intensify in the West Bank
In addition to the crisis in Gaza, Alakbarov warned of worsening violence and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
He said Israeli planning authorities had recently advanced plans for more than 2,200 new settlement housing units, while settler attacks on Palestinian communities had intensified markedly this year.
“Some 220 Palestinian communities have suffered attacks,” he said, adding that violence was increasingly displacing entire communities.
The envoy also highlighted the Israeli government’s recent plans for the UNRWA compound in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, following an earlier takeover of the site.
“The Secretary-General strongly condemned this decision,” he said.
Ceasefire “won’t bring security yet”
The Council also heard an account from Rami Hijjo of the Palestinian Red Crescent, who described the daily struggle for survival inside Gaza amid continued shelling, displacement and severe shortages.
“Today I stand before you as a civilian and humanitarian worker living in Gaza,” he said. “The ceasefire has not yet brought security.“
Hijjo described the repeated displacements, the collapse of health services and the increasing risks faced by aid workers, including the killing of Palestinian Red Crescent doctors earlier this year.
“No creativity can fully overcome the systematic and deliberate occupational restrictions designed to make life unbearable for all civilians and all those who try to help them.”he told the ambassadors.
A crucial opportunity
Despite the gloomy assessments, Alakbarov insisted that the current ceasefire framework still represented the best chance to avoid a new full-scale war and begin rebuilding Gaza.
He warned that without urgent progress to make resolution 2803 a reality, the situation would only become more dire.
He called for “collective responsibility” to prevail and for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to return to the path of a two-state solution.
For a detailed report on where key countries stand in the face of the continuing crisis, see today’s report. live coverage here.