UN Officials Demand Immediate Halt to Israeli Aggression on Gaza.

Gaza: The devastating Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has caused widespread destruction and heavy losses, UN officials said. 'These events will reverberate for generations and shape the region in ways we cannot yet fully comprehend,' they said in briefings to the UN Security Council last night to discuss the situation in the Middle East. According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, UN officials explained that the humanitarian situation in Gaza, with the onset of winter, is 'catastrophic,' especially developments in northern Gaza with widespread and near-total displacement of civilians, widespread destruction, and land clearing, amid what appears to be a disturbing disregard for international humanitarian law. They stressed that the current conditions in Gaza 'are among the worst we have seen during the entire war and we do not expect them to improve.' UN officials also highlighted the situation in the occupied West Bank, which 'remains stuck in a devastating cycle of violence and despair. ' They pointed to the continued Israeli military attacks on Palestinian cities and refugee camps in Area A, and the continued unabated colonial expansion, with the Israeli government taking several steps to accelerate colony progress, and some ministers now openly calling for the formal annexation of the West Bank in the coming months, and the establishment of colonies in Gaza. In this context, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process warned that the steps being taken on the ground in Gaza and the occupied West Bank 'are taking us further and further away from the peace process and from an eventual viable Palestinian state.' Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, emphasized that 'violence is a dead end.' He added, 'Our region does not need more killing, but a just political solution. The solution is not in the disappearance of one people, but in mutual acceptance and coexistence. It is not in killing or being killed, but in living an d allowing others to live.' Mansour made clear that the only course of action the Security Council must take, if it is to retain any credibility, is to 'demand an immediate and unconditional ceasefire under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.' He stressed that the choice is simple, 'between occupation and freedom, annexation and independence, apartheid and the dignity of universal rights, oppression and coexistence, and war and peace.' He called on all states to act to protect civilians, recognize the State of Palestine, implement the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and respect international legal obligations, without exception, and without fear or favor. Mansour also called for decisive action to end colony activity in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including taking action against Israeli officials, 'before we see colonies built again in Gaza.'