NEW YORK, JANUARY 9 – “Gravely concerned” about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the latest reports by UN agencies, the Italian Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, expressed support to the work of the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator Sigrid Kaag.
Member States gathered today to debate the use of the veto by the United States in the Security Council last month on a resolution calling for an humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. The veto is a special voting power held by the permanent member States on the Council, whereby if any one of the five — China, France, Russia, the UK and the US — casts a negative vote, the resolution or decision automatically fails.
“We commend the strong efforts of the UN and all humanitarian actors to deliver lifesaving aid in dire conditions and deplore the deaths of a record number of UN staff members and other humanitarian workers, as well as journalists”, said Massari in his address to the General Assembly calling upon the international community to support the efforts to scale up aid and monitoring in Gaza. “Rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access is an obligation under international law for the parties and is needed to deliver life-saving aid to avoid a further worsening of an already catastrophic situation. We welcome the cooperation of regional actors aimed at opening humanitarian access to Gaza”, said the Italian Ambassador pointing out to specific Italian initiatives in the region, including the deployment of the military ship Vulcano with surgical emergency capabilities, to El-Arish, in Egypt, to help treat wounded Palestinian minors and women in the care of Egyptian hospitals. Furthermore, Italy has allocated additional funds for an amount of 10 million euros to UN Agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
“Italy’s position on today’s conflict is well-known. We condemn in the strongest possible terms Hamas’ brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks across Israel on 7 October 2023. The use of civilians as human shields by Hamas is a particularly deplorable atrocity. We call on Hamas to immediately cease the continued missile attacks on Israel and to release all hostages without any precondition. The ICRC must be granted access to the hostages. We strongly emphasise Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law including international humanitarian and human rights law. Military operations must be proportionate and in line with humanitarian law”. To read Ambassador Massari’s full speech, please click here. (@OnuItalia)
