UNCS to hold briefing session on the humanitarian situation in Gaza

NEW YORK: The UN Security Council will hold a briefing session later on Wednesday, followed by closed consultations on the humanitarian situation in Gaza under the agenda item "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question". Algeria and Slovenia, with the support of France, requested the meeting, and members are expected to hear two briefings: the first from Lisa Dutton, Head of the Finance Section of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the second from Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Israel yesterday against harming UNRWA, stressing that it is "indispensable and irreplaceable". Israel is threatening to issue a draft resolution that would prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the occupied Palestinian territory. Guterres explained that such legislation would be completely inconsistent with the UN Charter and would violate Israel's obligations under international law, adding that "Israeli legislation cannot change those obligations". Source: Palestine news & Information Agency - WAFA