UAE condemns 'inhumane' Israeli attacks and calls for end to Gaza siege

Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh urges international community to intervene to end cycle of violence

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The UAE’s ambassador to the UN has condemned Israel's "disproportionate, cruel and inhumane attacks" and issued an impassioned plea for an end to its siege on Gaza.

Lana Nusseibeh told a UN Security Council meeting that, while Israel may claim to be at war with Hamas, it is innocent civilians who are "paying the price".

She called for a moment of silence for all lives lost during the Israel-Gaza conflict, which is now in its fifth week.

More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since fighting broke out, while the death toll in Israel stands at 1,200, down from the initial estimate of 1,400.

Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are prohibited by the laws of war; this simply cannot be part of any military strategy, defensive or otherwise

Lana Nusseibeh

Ms Nusseibeh said the stark reality of Israeli strikes on schools and hospitals was that "babies, children and the elderly" were under attack.

"As we called for this meeting yesterday, little did we know that by the evening, a terrifying barrage of targeted attacks would be launched on schools and hospitals," said the UN envoy on Friday.

"Here’s what that actually means. Babies, children and the elderly, who are seeking refuge and care in those facilities ‒ are also under attack.

"There are over 110,000 patients, including children, suffering from burns to their faces so severe that they are suffocating – with no access to antibiotics or burn cream.

"Women are giving birth in the most unsanitary conditions known to mankind, without medicines, and C-sections are being performed without anaesthesia."

Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital. Reuters

A Palestinian girl wounded in Israeli strikes waits for treatment at Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza city. Reuters

Flames rage in a field near the border village of Burj Al-Mamluk, in southern Lebanon's Khiam plain, after an Israeli bombardment. AFP

Smoke rises after air strikes during direct combat between the Israeli army and Hamas, near the beach road in Gaza city. EPA

Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, looking for safety, camp on the grounds of Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

People search through buildings, destroyed during Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza. Getty Images

Israeli troops during operations in northern Gaza. AFP

A photo taken from the Israeli side of the border with Gaza shows the continued Israeli bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip. AFP

Palestinian men pray over the bodies of members of the Abu Taim family before burial in Khan Younis. AFP

Israeli soldiers stand amid rubble during the ground invasion against Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

A woman and two children evacuated from Gaza walk on the tarmac at the Baza 90 air force base in Otopeni, Romania, after arriving from Egypt. AP

Gazans inspect the Khaled bin Al-Walid Mosque, which was destroyed during Israeli air raids in Khan Younis. Getty Images

Residents flee from Al Shatea refugee camp during combat between the Israeli army and Hamas in Gaza city. EPA

An artillery unit moves near the border with Lebanon, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Getty Images

Smoke rises during direct combat between the Israeli army and militants of the Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam militia, the military wing of the Hamas movement, at the beach road in west-centre Gaza City. EPA

People search for survivors and bodies after a building was hit by Israeli bombing in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

A boy learns his father has been killed in an Israeli air strike at a hospital in Khan Younis. Reuters

Israeli soldiers training in the upper Galilee region, near the border with Lebanon. AFP

Destruction in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot in southern Israel. Reuters

A girl looks on as bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes are laid out at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Reuters

Mourners pray next to the bodies of members of the Daher family, who were killed by Israel strikes, at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

A satellite image shows the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Reuters

People search through the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli air raids in Khan Younis. Getty Images

Smoke rises over the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot. Reuters

An ambulance transporting injured Palestinians to Egyptian hospitals for treatment waits on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. Reuters

Palestinian doctor Mohammad Abu Namoos, who chose to stay in Gaza to treat patients, says goodbye to his family before they leave. Reuters

The funeral of three children and their grandmother killed in an Israeli air strike in Blida, Lebanon. EPA

Palestinian children denouncing the killing of children in Gaza by waving banners and flags during a sit-in protest at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. AFP

Men pray during a rally in support of Palestinians outside Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York. AFP

A teddy bear symbolising hostages and missing children is placed on a bench in Tel Aviv, as people gather for a vigil to mark the one-month anniversary of the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel. Reuters

A survivor of the Nova Festival attack, May Hayat, takes cover as rocket sirens sound, during her first visit to the scene of the attack, near Re'im, Israel. Reuters

Palestinians flee Gaza city to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din street in Bureij. AP

A satellite picture showing the Rafah border crossing to Egypt. AFP

People gather in Tel Aviv for a candlelit vigil to mark the one-month anniversary of the October 7 deadly attack by Hamas militants on Israel. Reuters

Doris Liber, whose son Guy Iluz is being held hostage in Gaza, during a press conference with House Republicans at the Capitol in Washington. AP

Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij. AP

Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinians killed by Israeli troops at Tulkarm refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank. EPA

Tragic stories of war

The ambassador said it was crucial to reflect on the human tragedies of conflicts often told in death tolls and numbers of wounded and displaced.

"It sometimes feels that by only dealing with the numbers from the conflict, we are indeed denying the humanity of those suffering," she said.

Ms Nusseibeh recounted the suffering and hardships of some of those caught up in the conflict.

"While it is impossible for us to go through the thousands of stories in today’s meeting, I want to put a couple of faces to those numbers ‒ not of Hamas fighters. Normal people.

"And Israel may be at war with Hamas, but those paying the price of this war are civilians in the thousands.'

She told of the ordeal of Alaa Zaheer Ahmed, a third year medical student who was designing a poster for breast cancer awareness "when the windows started shaking and everything turned black".

"An Israeli air strike levelled her home, pinning her legs under the wreckage and leaving barely enough oxygen to breathe,' Ms Nusseibeh said.

"Hours later, Alaa’s relatives and rescue workers pulled her from the rubble, they also recovered the lifeless bodies of her mother, her brother and her nephew. There are so many stories like this one."

She shared the story of Talia, born in Al Shifa hospital on October 6 - one day before war erupted - whose "fragile heartbeat depends on a mechanical ventilator, straining generators and dwindling fuel supply".

"With the strike on the hospital last night [Thursday], and reports of the desperate evacuations on foot as we speak here today in this Council, I can’t even begin to imagine what has happened to Talia – but we must not turn away from these stories."

Hailing healthcare heroes

Ms Nusseibeh paid tribute to the medical staff in Gaza, who she said have stayed behind to deliver life-saving care in "horrific circumstances".

"Medical staff tell us that they are in fear for their lives and the lives of their patients being taken, and they do not know if they will make it until the morning," the ambassador said.

She added that, while the UAE was striving to deliver support by establishing a field hospital in Gaza, it could serve only as a "plaster on a fracture".

She stressed the need to not forget those held hostage by Hamas and called for their immediate release.

"Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are prohibited by the laws of war; this simply cannot be part of any military strategy, defensive or otherwise," she said.

"Israel must end its siege on Gaza and reinstate essential services and items indispensable to human survival, including fuel, electricity and water."

Ms Nusseibeh said it was time for the international community to act, with a two-state solution the ultimate goal.

"It is unconscionable that it has been 33 days of the destruction of Gaza, without any Council action and response. It is time to act and to respond and help save innocent lives," she said.

"And to ensure this violence ends once and for all, the two-state solution must be the overarching goal. The international community must reiterate its unwavering support for this goal.

"This is the only solution that takes us out of this cycle of hatred and violence and dehumanisation again and again and again."