Joint statement on the Israeli plan to expand its military operations in Gaza

Joint statement on the Israeli plan to expand its military operations in Gaza

Nyhet | Dato: 07.05.2025

Statement by the Foreign Ministers of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Spain on the Israeli plan to expand its military operations in Gaza.

 

We, the Foreign Ministers of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Spain express our grave concern about the reported Israeli plans to expand its military operations in Gaza and to establish a prolonged Israeli presence in the Strip. This would mean crossing yet another line, marking a dangerous new escalation and jeopardizing any prospects of a viable Two-State solution.  

 

A further military escalation in Gaza will only exacerbate an already catastrophic situation for the civilian Palestinian population and threaten the lives of the hostages that remain in captivity. 

 

We firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza, including any scheme that would force or facilitate the permanent displacement of its population, which would be in violation of international law. We also strongly oppose a system that does not ensure that the entire population gets access to humanitarian aid. Gaza is an integral part of the State of Palestine, which belongs to the Palestinian people. 

 

For more than two months, Israeli authorities have blocked all humanitarian aid and commercial supplies from reaching the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza. Despite repeated calls on Israel to lift these measures and to facilitate relief, Israel has instead further tightened, rather than eased, the measures. We call on Israel to immediately lift the blockade. It is essential to facilitate relief for all civilians in need, without discrimination, and to follow the other humanitarian principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.  

 

Together, we call on the Israeli authorities to show restraint. We further call on Israel to take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.  

 

What is needed more urgently than ever is a resumption of a ceasefire, and the unconditional release of all hostages. We reaffirm our unwavering support for the two-state solution — Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security. 

 

Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland 

Simon Harris, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland 

Xavier Bettel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Luxembourg 

Espen Barth Eide, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway 

Tanja Fajon, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia 

José Manuel Albares Bueno, Minister for Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation of Spain

Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory – on principled aid delivery in Gaza

Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory – on principled aid delivery in Gaza

East Jerusalem and Gaza city, 4 May 2025

For nine weeks now, Israeli authorities have blocked all supplies from entering Gaza, no matter how vital to people’s survival. Bakeries have shut. Community kitchens have closed. Warehouses stand empty. Children have gone hungry.

Israeli officials have sought to shut down the existing aid distribution system run by the United Nations and its humanitarian partners and have us agree to deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to re-open crossings.

The design of the plan presented to us will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies. It contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy. It is dangerous, driving civilians into militarized zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement.

The UN Secretary-General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator have made clear that we will not participate in any scheme that does not adhere to the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the heads of all UN entities and non-governmental organizations under the Humanitarian Country Team have unanimously affirmed this position. Humanitarian action responds to people’s needs, wherever they are.

Our teams remain in Gaza, ready to again scale up the delivery of critical supplies and services: food, water, health, nutrition, protection and more. We have significant stocks ready to enter as soon as the blockade is lifted.

We urge world leaders to use their influence to make that happen. The time is now.

Ends

For media requests, please contact Ilona Gaudin at +972 54 3311835 or gaudin2@un.org.

* The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is a strategic decision-making forum led by the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It brings together heads of UN entities and NGOs – both international and Palestinian – all working on humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under internationally agreed humanitarian principles.

Starving in Gaza

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 11 Palestinians so far today, with deadly attacks reported in Khan Younis, Beit Lahia and Gaza City. The strikes follow Israeli attacks that killed 54 Palestinians on Monday, and as the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, reported some 66,000 children in Gaza are suffering severe malnutrition due to Israel’s total blockade of food and aid, now in its ninth week. Some Palestinians have resorted to eating turtle meat, grass or rotten or expired food. This is a displaced Palestinian mother in Gaza City.

Montasira al-Kafarneh: “What I’m doing now is trying to separate rice from bulgur and stones. As you can see, we’re forced to eat stones because there is no flour, no food, no water. Nothing reaches us, not even aid. As you can see, I’m sorting this just to silence my children’s hunger. The kids are crying all the time from hunger. This is bird feed. It’s not fit for human consumption, but we cook it to quiet the children’s cries.”

May 6. Democracy Now!