UN Security Council Envoys Fly to Rafah for Unofficial Visit
A group of United Nations Security Council envoys flew to the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip today on a charter flight arranged by the United Arab Emirates to show the humanitarian aid operations in the area and to demand an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The visit was not an official Security Council visit and was not coordinated with Israel.
UAE Permanent Representative to the UN Lana Nusseibeh said the aim of the visit was “to learn first-hand what is needed in terms of a humanitarian operations scale-up that meets the needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and to promote why a humanitarian cease-fire is an imperative.”
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She said that current inspection and verification processes, as well as the lack of other crossing points, meant that the amount of aid reaching Gazans was insufficient, and it was important for the envoys to see “the challenges” faced by humanitarian aid workers on the ground.
As well as Nusseibeh, also on the flight were senior UN officials Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, and Lynn Hastings, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, whose visa to Israel was recently revoked amid allegations of bias.
Also on the flight were envoys from the United Kingdom, China and Russia, three of the five permanent Security Council members, as well as from nine of the 10 non-permanent members. The other two permanent members, the United States and France, and non-permanent member Gabon declined to join the mission.
The US last week vetoed a proposed UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. The UN General Assembly has scheduled an emergency meeting Tuesday to call for an immediate cease-fire, but unlike Security Council resolutions, its resolutions are not binding.
