Arab nations heap criticism on Netanyahu for 'new stage of genocide' in Gaza

Special session of UN Security Council meets in response to Israel's new military push

Protestors demonstrate outside the United Nations building as the Security Council held an emergency meeting on Gaza on Sunday. AFP

Arab nations have heavily criticised Israel's new plan to take control of much of Gaza, describing it as a "new stage of genocide", in some of the strongest comments made in the UN chamber on Sunday.

Kuwait’s UN representative Tareq Al Banai, delivering the statement of the Gulf Co-operation Council countries, said that the new military operation “lays the groundwork for a new stage of genocide and forced discipline and undermines any chance of achieving a two-state solution”.

Algeria called Israel the “enemy of humanity” and urged the UN to impose sanctions on it.

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The comments came during a special session of the UN Security Council called by the UK, France and Denmark. It was in response to the Israeli Cabinet approving new military operations in Gaza that include the takeover of Gaza city.

“The council must act decisively, resolutely, by resorting to its utmost tools to act under Chapter Seven of the [UN] Charter,” Algerian ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama told the council. “The hour has come to impose sanctions on the enemy of humanity.”

Mr Bendjama condemned Israel's new military plans and said that “Gaza is facing hell”.

Israel’s security cabinet on Friday approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to control Gaza City in the north and displace half the population to the south. Israel already controls about 75 per cent of the strip, and many of the enclave's more than two million people have been displaced many times since the war began in October 2023.

Widespread hunger has been reported amid a continuing aid blockade initiated by Israel, which has accused Hamas of looting and hoarding assistance.

“Hunger-related deaths are rising, especially among children with severe malnutrition since the escalation of hostilities,” said Ramesh Rajasingham, head and representative of OCHA in Geneva and director of the Co-ordination Division, highlighting the deaths of nearly 100 children from severe acute malnutrition. “This is no longer a looming hunger crisis. This is starvation, pure and simple.”

The Israeli cabinet outlined the goals of the new military operation: the disarming of Hamas; the return of all the hostages; the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

Palestine's representative said that Israel is seeking to cement its “full military control” over Gaza.

Israel “is prolonging this war not to end Hamas rule or to disarm it, but to prevent an independent Palestinian state,” Riyad Mansour told the council. “As long as Israel is above the law, it will act as an outlaw state.”

The UK's deputy UN representative said the inhumanity occurring in Gaza “cannot be justified”.

“We have a clear message for Israel: urgently and permanently lift all restrictions on aid delivery,” James Kariuki told the council.

But the US pushed back on concerns over the new Israeli military operation, accusing member states of rewarding Hamas's refusal to agree to a ceasefire by handing it propaganda victories and pledging to support a Palestinian state.

“The simple truth is that this war could end today if Hamas let the hostages and all of Gaza go free,” US acting ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea said, adding that the UN has helped to spread lies about Israel, the Washington-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the US.

“Israel did not make a decision to advance its military campaign in a vacuum, but after months of Hamas's intransigence … The loss of civilian life in Gaza is tragic, but the responsibility for this rests with Hamas.”

Israel's ambassador said that his country has “no plans or desire” to permanently occupy Gaza, and intends to relocate civilians away from the influence of Hamas.

“This is liberation from a brutal terror regime,” deputy Israeli ambassador Jonathan Miller said, accusing Hamas of exploiting the hostages that remain in the enclave as well as Gaza's population to maintain its position.