Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the UN Security Council meeting following the strikes on Tel Aviv
We thank Ms. Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Peacebuilding, and Major General Michael Beary, Head of the UN Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA), for their reports.
The formal reason for convening today's Security Council meeting by a number of its Western members was the July 19 UAV strike on the center of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. As a result of the attack one person died and several others were injured. The Yemeni movement Ansar Allah claimed responsibility for the attack.
Russia, of course, condemns any attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. We express our condolences to the family of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.
However, we cannot but remind our Council colleagues who insisted on holding this meeting that drones, missiles and other weapons are launched towards Israel by opponents of its action in Gaza almost every day, as evidenced by West Jerusalem’s letter to the Security Council regarding the incident. Most of them have been intercepted, but not the one launched on July 19, when that tragic incident occurred.
In no way are we downplaying the sensitivity of the incident for Tel Aviv, but let us not forget that less than a hundred kilometers southward, the escalation is on a completely different level. It has been almost 10 months since Israel's bloody operation in the Gaza Strip started. Over this period, it has already claimed the lives of 39,000 innocent Gazans. Since October 7 - despite the unambiguous position of the entire international community and the decisions by international bodies, including the UN Security Council and the UN International Court of Justice – the IDF has continued its brutal clean-up of the enclave, which is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. In the past 24 hours alone, 37 Palestinians have been killed and 57 have been injured in Gaza. The enclave literally lies in ruins: homes, schools and hospitals have been destroyed. The civilian infrastructure has barely one stone left standing. On Friday, we will convene a UNSC meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The number of casualties among UN humanitarian personnel and NGOs is already approaching three hundred. This is the biggest single loss for the UN in modern history. Yet Israel, indulged by Washington, continues to ignore all Security Council resolutions and all peace initiatives, including the notorious Biden Plan, which exists only on paper.
I feel obliged to ask those who insisted on today’s meeting: Where were you a week ago when the Israeli air force launched a heaviest strike on the Al-Mawasi region near Khan Younis? Or the day before yesterday when Israel hit Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, killing 13 people, including a child? Why didn’t you sound the alarm, calling for an emergency Security Council then? These regions were designated by the Israeli military itself as a humanitarian zone where refugees were allowed to shelter. Just look at the figures: more than 100 dead, about 300 injured. How powerful should have been the strike to cause such damage? How many drones like the one that reached Tel Aviv would have been needed to do that? Do you see no problem with that? Once again, one can only marvel at the selective blindness and double standards of our Council colleagues.
By indulging Israel's actions, you cannot but become an abettor in an extremely dangerous escalation that is increasingly spreading over the entire region. For example, Israel immediately responded to the attack by a Houthi drone in its traditional way, namely by attacking the Yemeni port of Hodeidah with American F-15 fighter jets. The airstrikes killed three people, injured 87, and destroyed an oil terminal and power plant near the Red Sea coast. All this happened in a civilian port where, according to UNMHA reports, there has been no military activity for a long time. It is the port that the lion's share of commercial and, most importantly, humanitarian cargo went through to sustain the country affected by a humanitarian disaster. We can imagine how many more people will be indirectly impacted by the IDF's new extremely dangerous adventure if we remember that Yemen has more than 21 million inhabitants, and two-thirds of the country's population are still in need of some form of humanitarian aid and protection.
We reiterate: force will achieve nothing but further escalation of violence in the region. After all, the motives of the Ansar Allah leadership are no secret: they explicitly link the cessation of their actions to ending the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. In this regard, by the way, the demands of the Houthis, no matter how one treats them, coincide with those of the UN Security Council. This movement has long been accustomed to the “language of force”. The 6-month long bombardment of the Yemeni territory by the so-called “coalition” led by the U.S. and Britain has not yielded any result, and the Houthis still has significant military capacities. Israel's intention to escalate the situation with the Houthis will only stir them up, and now we risk to have another bitter conflict.
Colleagues, the way out of this crisis is fairly clear to all of us: there must be an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians. We, most of our Council colleagues and almost the entire international community have been repeatedly saying that. Stopping the violence in Gaza will bring alleviation to the whole region. That also applies to the instability in the Red Sea.
I would like to believe that the Western members of the Council will be able to explain this simple logic to their Israeli counterparts.
Thank you for your attention.
