UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used a rarely exercised power on Wednesday to warn the Security Council of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
His letter to the 15 members of the council said Gaza's humanitarian system is at risk of collapse after two months of war that has led to “terrible human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma”, and he demanded that civilians receive greater damage would be spared.
Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, which states that the Secretary-General may inform the council of matters that he believes threaten international peace and security. “The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis,” he said.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said he expects the secretary-general to address the Security Council on Gaza this week and push for a humanitarian ceasefire.
A short draft resolution circulated to council members late on Wednesday by the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council, would follow up on Guterres' letter under Article 99. It demands “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” and expresses “grave concern about the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population.”
Earlier Wednesday, the 22-nation Arab Group at the UN strongly backed a ceasefire.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, said it is essential that the UN's most powerful body demands an end to the conflict.
But the United States, Israel's closest ally, has veto power in the Security Council and has not supported a ceasefire.
On Tuesday, US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters that the Security Council's role in the Israel-Gaza war “is not to stand in the way of this important diplomacy that is happening on the ground … because we have seen some results , although not as good results as we want to see.”
A Security Council resolution at this time, he said, “would not be helpful.”
Mansour said a ministerial delegation from Arab countries and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation will be in Washington on Thursday to meet US officials and push for an immediate ceasefire.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said the secretary general invoked Article 99 to pressure Israel, accusing the U.N. chief of “a new moral low” and “bias against Israel.”
“The Secretary General's call for a ceasefire is actually a call to maintain Hamas's reign of terror in Gaza,” Erdan said in a statement. “Instead of the Secretary General explicitly pointing out Hamas's responsibility for the situation and calling on the terrorist leaders to turn themselves in and return the hostages, thereby ending the war, the Secretary General chooses to to continue playing into the hands.”
In his letter, Guterres denounced “the abhorrent acts of terror” and the brutal killing of more than 1,200 people in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, and the kidnapping of some 250 people in the attack that started the war. He urged the immediate release of more than 130 people still held captive.
But Guterres noted Gaza's deteriorating condition as a result of Israel's continued military action, which he said is aimed at destroying Hamas. More than 16,200 people have been killed and about 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been forcibly displaced to increasingly smaller areas.
“Amid ongoing bombardments by the Israeli army, and without shelter or the essentials for survival, I expect that public order will soon completely collapse due to the desperate conditions, making even limited humanitarian assistance impossible,” Guterres warned.
A total collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza would, he said, have “potentially irreversible consequences for the Palestinians as a whole and for the peace and security of the region.”
Dujarric, the UN spokesman, previously told reporters that invoking Article 99 was “a very dramatic constitutional move by the secretary general.” The only previous mention of Article 99 was in a December 1971 report by then Secretary-General U Thant to the council. Dujarric expressed his belief that the situation in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and the Indian subcontinent threatened international peace and security.
“You don't bring up this article lightly,” Dujarric said. “I think that given the situation on the ground and the risk of a complete collapse, not only of our humanitarian operations but also of civil order, this is something that he felt had to happen now.”