The Palestinian ambassador to the UN broke down in tears on Wednesday as he pleaded with the Security Council to address the deepening crisis in Gaza.
“I have grandchildren. I know what they mean to their families, and to see the situation of the Palestinians without us having hearts to do something is beyond the ability of any normal human being to tolerate,” Riyad Mansour said, his voice shaking, at one point pounding the table during his emotional speech.
He condemned attacks on civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli, but denounced what he called “double standards” in global responses.
“Nothing can justify attacking civilians … we are human beings. We are proud Palestinians. We should be treated exactly like everybody else,” he said.
Mr Mansour accused the international community of ignoring the plight of Palestinians. “You cannot just see what you want in the mirror and ignore the huge elephant in the room, the Palestinian people,” he said.
“I can assure you that we are rooted in Palestine more than the olive trees … we will not wither away. We are staying in our homeland, and we will attain our inalienable rights, hopefully sooner than later."
Israel’s UN envoy, Danny Danon, reminded Mr Mansour of the words of Israel’s former prime minister, Golda Meir, who held office five decades ago: “Peace will come when you will love your children more than you hate us.”
Mr Danon accused UN agencies of blocking aid deliveries to Gaza, claiming hundreds of lorries loaded with supplies were stuck at border crossings due to the UN’s failure to distribute them.
“As we speak, there are more than 400 lorries already on the other side of the fence, waiting to be distributed, but the UN has failed to pick them up,” he told reporters before the Security Council meeting on Gaza. “We opened the crossings. We provided safe routes for those lorries. But the UN did not show up."
About 600 lorries entered the enclave daily during a ceasefire this year, according to the UN.
Mr Danon also rejected allegations by UN and Gaza health officials that Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians trying to gain access to aid through a new US-backed distribution system on Tuesday. At least one Palestinian was killed and 48 others were wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
“There were a few riots. It took the American teams some time to take control of the situation, but I can say it out loud: We didn’t shoot anyone over there,” Mr Danon said.
He said Israel would continue allowing UN-facilitated aid into Gaza while the new US-backed mechanism expands across the enclave.
A day after the incident, the World Food Programme said “hordes of hungry people” broke into one of the agency's warehouses in central Gaza on Wednesday, with initial reports indicating that two people had died and several were injured.
“Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve,” the WFP said in a statement.
With severe shortages of food, water and medicine, Palestinians in Gaza have grown increasingly desperate. There have been long queues forming at aid centres and reports of violent clashes over limited supplies.
The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, condemned Israel's military operations in the enclave.
“The disproportionate use of force and the deaths of civilians cannot be tolerated. The continued targeting of civilian infrastructure is unacceptable,” she said in a statement.
Ms Kallas repeated that humanitarian aid “must never be politicised or militarised” and recalled the role of the UN in distributing humanitarian assistance.
“The EU reiterates its urgent call for the immediate, unimpeded and sustained resumption of aid at scale, according to the needs of the civilian population in Gaza.”
