‘8,000 people killed in Gaza not all Hamas’: UAE reiterates call to end war

The UAE has warned that the “drums of war are beating” in the region, reiterating the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Addressing the United Nations Security Council, a UAE ambassador said there have been “several credible warnings” of a wider escalation.

The UN Security Council convened on Monday after the UAE and China called for an emergency meeting as Israel expanded its ground operations into Gaza over the weekend. The emergency session will continue on Tuesday.

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Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's Permanent Representative to the UN, said Palestinian civilians are paying the price in Israel’s retaliatory strikes over Hamas’ “heinous October 7th attacks”.

“The more than 8,000 people that have been killed in Gaza … 70 per cent of whom were women and children, were surely not all Hamas,” the Emirati ambassador said. “Nearly 1,000 children are missing and may be trapped or dead under the rubble. They are not Hamas. Will we help them?"

“The number of Palestinian children killed in just three weeks of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza exceeds the total number of children killed in conflicts worldwide in each of the last four years.”

She referred to statements from diplomats that the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are not Hamas and that this is not a war against them. “And while these are welcome words, it is time that action reflected them.”

Gaza needs a ceasefire “now”, she stressed. “We need to ensure that safe, sustained, and at scale humanitarian aid reaches Gaza now. And that access to electricity, clean water, and fuel is restored now.”

Referring to the shutdown of cellular and Internet services in Gaza over the weekend, she said wounded civilians are searching for help in the dark.

‘Evacuation order cruel’

The envoy said there have been 76 attacks on healthcare facilities, with 20 hospitals and clinics damaged or destroyed.

“Let me be absolutely clear on this point: These sites are protected by international humanitarian law. Announcements that they are targets or warnings for them to evacuate do not … alter their protected status. We need to see the rescission of dangerous unrealistic evacuation orders.”

On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported warnings from Israel to immediately evacuate Al Quds Hospital, she said. “Around 12,000 civilians are also seeking refuge there right now as we sit here in this chamber in New York speaking to each other again and again, and debating the language of our humanitarian resolution and response.

“An evacuation order in these conditions is cruel. It is reckless.”

Ambassador Nusseibeh noted that while the world’s focus has been on Gaza, the occupied West Bank has not been spared from violence either.

• Israeli forces attack north Gaza's main city from both sides