Mr. President,
I thank you for convening the 10th Emergency Special Session of the UNGA. Bangladesh aligns itself with the statement delivered by Mauritania, on behalf of the OIC Group.
The People of Palestine has been going through unimaginable misery, inhumane treatment and colonial subjugation due to continuous attack and killing, expansion of illegal settlement, demolition of homes and forcible transfer by Israeli Occupying Forces, for decades.
However, in the last 24 days, what is happening, has gone beyond description which has crossed all boundaries of international norms and principles. Indiscriminate and disproportionate bombardment on Gaza even on hospitals and refugee camps by Israel has already killed more than 8000, around half being children, and around 20000 have been injured. The Number is increasing by every passing minute. More than 1.5 million Palestinians have been displaced internally in an area of just 140 square miles and they do not have necessary life-saving assistance. They are running out of food, water, electricity, shelter and medical assistance.
At this moment, immediate ceasefire is a must and I urge this august Assembly to do the righteous thing to save hundreds of thousands of lives.
Mr. President,
It is regrettable that due to the failure of the Security Council to take action, thousands of civilians have already been killed and the delay in ceasefire will kill, injure and displace more innocent people. The situation is further deteriorating with the ground invasion by Israel. We have seen in the past also; the inaction of the Security Council and failure to implement its own resolutions had encouraged the occupying Power to continue its aggressions and brutality that tantamount to war crimes. We urge again to take immediate action to stop the war and take necessary steps to implement all the resolutions of the United Nations related to Palestine.
Mr. President,
Blocking of humanitarian assistance is totally unacceptable and cannot be justified in anyway. Blockade of fuel and electricity has brought hospitals to a standstill, risking the lives of the thousands of wounded and the sick. Immediate humanitarian access to Gaza with adequate life-saving assistance needs to be ensured. We welcome the humanitarian aid through Rafah crossing but we all know the meagerness of the supplies going into Gaza which is characterized by the Secretary-General as a drop in the ocean. We call once again to ensure immediate, continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision of essential supplies and services to civilians throughout the Gaza Strip.
Mr. President,
We are deeply concerned at the killing of UN and other aid workers, health personnel, and journalists in Gaza and we strongly condemn such heinous act. It is unfortunate that 67 UNRWA staff and personnel have been killed and numerous UNRWA installations have been damaged so far. We demand protection of the United Nations facilities and all humanitarian installations.
We have been seeing bombing on hospitals and shelters with a deliberate attack to kill the civilians. Are these not the incident of war crimes and genocide? It is not acceptable collectively punishing a civilian population who has been struggling for their independence for more than seven decades and any attack cannot be justified in the name of “Right to Self Defense”. As an occupying power, Israel’s claim of right to self defence and its endorsement by many, its nothing but a fallacy of international law on the question of occupation and the rights and duties of occupying power. Moreover, this august Assembly cannot discriminate among people while taking decision. I echo the words of the Palestinian Ambassador in his recent deliberation in the Security Council that “Palestinian lives are not less precious than the Israeli lives”. We also reject unequivocally Israel’s call to forcibly displace the Palestinians out of their own homeland – which is an attempt to further deteriorate the humanitarian situation in the entire region.
Mr. President,
We need to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes and blatant disrespect for international humanitarian law. We have clear legal definitions, in the international law, of genocide, of war crimes, of crimes against humanity. Failure to do so in the past, mainly due to the blatant double standard undertaken by some governments and media alike, has brought this awful day and it is a shame for all of us that after having so many resolutions even in the Security Council with clear road map of the solution to this crisis, we have failed to implement this.
Mr. President,
I would like to refer to the Secretary-General who said that the attack on 07 October did not happen in vacuum. Decades-long occupation, and Israel’s absolute impunity, guaranteed by some member states, from consequences of committing atrocities, and undermining all diplomatic and multilateral efforts to establish peace in the Middle East towards the two-state solution, has all led to this point today. We do not want any further loss of lives anywhere. In this regard, we would like to repeat that the only solution to this crisis; the only way to establish peace in Palestine and the whole region is establishment of an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, under a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders.
Mr. President,
Before concluding, I would like to remind you once again that the UN Charter starts with our determination to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and if we fail to do so we will remain accountable to our future generations. We must not lose sight of the right of self-determination of the people of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. However, at this time, this is more important than ever to avoid any more killing, to ensure humanitarian assistance, to save the civilians and humanitarian personnel. We call upon Israel to abide by the GA resolution adopted last Friday, which we co-sponsored, and to stop all atrocities immediately by agreeing to a ceasefire.
I thank you.
