(EN/AR) Arab Group & Islamic Group on the Middle East - Media Stakeout | UN Security Council

Informal comments to the media by the Permanent Representatives of the Troika of the Arab Group with the Troika of the Islamic Group (OIC), on the situation in the Middle East. Available in Arabic on UN Web TV: Flanked by Islamic Group (OIC) representatives, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour today (7 Dec) said it was expected that a draft resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza “will be put in blue today and action will take place on it when the Security Council meets tomorrow.” Mansour said, “the final touches” were put yesterday into the draft resolution tabled by the United Arab Emirates and the OIC “ideas were intertwined with the very important, courageous letter of the Secretary General in which he invoked using Article 99 before the Security Council.” Guterres on Wednesday invoked article 99 of the UN charter, notifying the Council that the crisis in Gaza represents a threat to international peace and security. Mansour said the draft resolution “was given last night to all members of the Security Council out of courtesy and the correct thing to do in giving all members of the Security Council to study it, to share with their capitals, to share with us if they have any ideas that could be incorporated in that draft resolution.” The Palestinian Ambassador said “the number of killed are now in excess of 17,000 Palestinians and killed and injured around 65,000. A large number of them, 70 percent of them are women and children. This is something that is so disgusting and disgraceful to see this large number of children being killed more than any other conflict since the creation of the United Nations. This abhorrent behaviour by the savages in the leadership of the State of Israel who should be held accountable for their crimes, as we are debating at the Assembly of State Parties to the ICC.”