UK wants to end bloodshed, bring hostages home and lay foundation for Palestinian state, UN representative sayspublished at 08:41 British Summer Time
As we’ve been reporting this morning, a UN official has warned of “catastrophic consequences” if Israel expands its military operations in Gaza.
That was during a meeting of the UN Security Council last night.
Speaking at that meeting, the UK’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, said there was a “rare moment of hope” at the beginning of the year with a ceasefire, but since it ended “the suffering of the hostages and Palestinian civilians has plumbed new and shocking depths”.
Woodward condemned to the council the “depraved” images of hostage Evyatar David and other “emaciated hostages paraded in front of cameras for propaganda”, saying that Hamas and its “terrorist ideology can have no place in future governance of Gaza”.
She also called on Israel to act to alleviate the “horrendous suffering” of Palestinian civilians, calling attention to a report on the “famine now unfolding in Gaza” by the IPC – a UN-backed monitor – and recalling stories from doctors of children with “festered” wounds that can’t heal due to malnutrition.
“The UK is ready to play its full and historic part in achieving a plan which ends the bloodshed, brings the hostages home and lays the foundation for a Palestinian state,” Woodward said.