Mansour: Two million people in Gaza are under Israeli blockade dying of hunger and disease

Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, said during an open debate on the ongoing crisis in Gaza at the UNSC that: “Two million people who were subjected to a 17-year-old blockade are now confronted with a hermetic siege, dying of hunger and disease while food and medicine are available only meters away. “Until now, Israel “pretended” the blockade, its walls and military rule were about security,” he added, according to WAFA News Agency.

“Israel has, for months, manufactured a humanitarian catastrophe, with famine at its core as it wields starvation, dehydration and the spread of diseases as the ultimate weapons,” he said.

Underscoring that there is a reason Israel behaves this way, he said “everything in its history tells it will get away with it. It is betting this time will be no exception. But, this time must be the exception, and change must start right now.”

While the Security Council adopted resolution 2735 in June to achieve an immediate ceasefire leading to a permanent cessation of hostilities, he said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not care about Palestinian civilian lives or even the hostages’ life, nor about international law or human decency, and only cares about his own political survival.

However, in recent weeks, there has been a global consensus in support of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the two-state solution – in line with UN resolutions and international law, Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations said, citing the International Court of Justice (ICJ) cases against Israel.

“There is more convergence on the Palestine question than on any other matter on the international agenda,” he added.