As the Security Council today held its final mandated meeting on the question of Palestine for 2025, its outgoing members urged action amidst flagging implementation of the peace plan that the organ endorsed in November.
"The ceasefire remains fragile, as we have seen with continued attacks and strikes in Gaza," reported Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Welcoming ongoing efforts by mediators to avert further escalation, support adherence to current commitments and advance discussions on the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, he said that the UN is doing its part to support the ceasefire and to "meet the staggering needs of the population". Winterization efforts are under way, but conditions remain dire, he said, noting that the first hypothermia-related death - a two-week-old newborn from Khan Younis - has been confirmed.
Underlining the need to preserve and expand operational humanitarian space, he welcomed the partial reopening of the Allenby Bridge crossing. However, supplies through this route are currently capped, and large quantities of aid wait in Jordanian warehouses. "I urge the authorities to enable the timely and at-scale movement of life-saving assistance through the indispensable Jordan corridor," he stressed. He also spotlighted a "deeply concerning development" - on 8 December, Israeli authorities forcibly entered a compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in East Jerusalem, seizing property and replacing the UN flag with an Israeli flag.
He also reported that, on 11 December, the Israeli cabinet decided to approve or regularize 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank. Highlighting some of the Secretary-General's observations on the implementation of resolution 2334 (2016), he condemned "relentless" Israeli settlement-expansion and noted that, in 2025, settlement advancement reached its highest point since UN tracking began in 2017. Against that backdrop, he recalled the 19 July 2024 advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice that obliges Israel to cease all new settlement activities, evacuate settlers and promptly end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Additionally, he reiterated the Secretary-General's condemnation of the recent terror attack on Jewish families gathered to celebrate Hanukkah in Sydney. Many Council members expressed the same.
In her turn, the representative of the United States said that her country opposes these quarterly briefings on resolution 2334 (2016), "as they only distract from pressing threats to international peace and security". Rather, she emphasized that humanitarian aid is transiting the Allenby Bridge crossing - including World Food Programme (WFP) trucks on 10 December - due to her country's advocacy. She also noted that the United States has allocated, since October, $330 million to WFP and other non-governmental organizations for emergency assistance.
"All of these improvements are the result of the hard work of the United States and our partners at the CMCC [Civil Military Coordination Center]," she said, calling on all Council members to contribute to these efforts. She added that resolution 2803 (2025) - not resolution 2334 (2016) - "charts the path towards a stable, safe and prosperous Middle East".
All Settlement Activity Must Cease Immediately
However, Pakistan's representative stressed that no Council resolution can be unilaterally declared "outdated" as he strongly rejected Israel's refusal to abide by resolution 2334 (2016). He also joined others in condemning the storming of UNRWA's headquarters, as well as the dramatic increase in illegal Israeli settlements - both of which violate international law. "All settlement activity must cease immediately," he underscored.
Also spotlighting the "record tempo" of Israeli settlement activity, the representative of the Russian Federation said that this "grotesque state of affairs" reflects the true approach of a country that the United States asserts is "the only democracy in the Middle East". He therefore called for "real diplomacy, which has nothing to do with loud proclamations". Urging the international community to work together towards a two-State solution, China's representative said: "When the Middle East is in turmoil, the world cannot be at peace."
For his part, Somalia's representative stated that "resolution 2334 (2016) is unambiguous" regarding the illegality of Israeli settlements. "Yet, nearly nine years after its adoption, settlement-expansion continues unabated at an unprecedented scale," he pointed out. Agreeing with other speakers that these actions erode the prospects for a negotiated two-State solution, he also called for the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid through all available crossings. In that context, Panama's representative underlined the need to maintain the presence of - and support for - the UN and its specialized agencies.
Israel Urged to Remove Obstacles to Humanitarian Aid in Gaza
France's representative, similarly, called on Israel to remove all obstacles to humanitarian aid and cooperate with UN agencies - "including by opening all crossing points and ceasing to refuse, in an arbitrary way, goods that are essential for the survival of the population". The United Kingdom's representative declared: "We need medical supplies, shelter materials and fuel delivered into Gaza now." In that context, he noted that tents funded by his Government have entered Gaza to provide urgent shelter for families.
"Equally concerning is the ongoing economic strangulation faced by Palestinian communities resulting from withheld tax revenues and constrained financial flows," said the representative of Greece. She stressed that the economic viability of the West Bank is "a prerequisite for meaningful self-governance and sustainable recovery". Denmark's representative pointed out that all of these demands - ending settlement activity, opening more crossings and releasing tax revenues - "are not new; they are rooted in resolutions passed by this Council". She urged: "What must change is how we react."
"From the very beginning, our conviction was - and remains - that strong political will is the key ingredient for moving the needle on the question of Palestine," said the representative of Guyana. She urged all Member States to apply "a simple but profound rule of thumb" - namely, that the aspirations held for one's own people should be no different from those held for the Palestinian people. "For Guyana," she said, "this principle has guided our engagement on the Security Council on the Palestinian question."
The representative of the Republic of Korea took this opportunity to reiterate "our basic, but most important, positions on this vital issue". These included support for the two-State solution and rejection of settler violence, as well as calls for both parties to abide by the ceasefire and for the resumption of a genuine process to advance a political horizon. He expressed hope that the Council "will soon have meaningful discussions to realize these common aspirations". Similarly situated, the representative of Sierra Leone said that her delegation "leaves with the hope that the Palestinian question will be resolved without further delay".
Council Inaction Has Exposed Crisis of International Order
Algeria's representative declared: "The facts have spoken - clearly, accurately, relentlessly." They have outlined "the routine of occupation, administered with precision and sustained by silence", he said, and "this Council has done nothing". Spotlighting the current moment as one "where the very legitimacy of the international system has come into question", he stressed that Gaza has laid bare "the reality of an international order that no longer recognizes anything but force".
The representative of Slovenia, Council President for December, spoke in his national capacity to agree that countless violations "were committed in Gaza on our watch". While Slovenia was guided by the "conviction of doing what is right", and worked with the other elected members to some success, he said that "what keeps us up at night" is that much more needs to be done. He concluded: "Palestinians have no other land, Israelis have no other neighbourhood and we, collectively, have no other solution than one of two States." Urging that "we simply should do more to prevent history from repeating itself", he acknowledged that - for now - "peace is nowhere near".
While no one welcomes the ceasefire more than the people of Gaza, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine said: "But Israel has yet to cease fire." He also said that Israel has confessed its aim to partition and annex Gaza while continuing to pursue the force displacement of the population. Underlining the need for one independent and sovereign Palestinian State, he also demanded an end to settler violence and for Israel to abide by the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion concerning UNRWA's critical work. Additionally, he condemned the deadly attack in Australia, describing as "irresponsible" any suggestions that condemning Israel's crimes in Gaza somehow justifies attacks against Jews. "Jews are not responsible for Israel's actions," he emphasized.
Israel's representative, also noting this attack, spotlighted an act of bravery by a Muslim bystander that saved lives. "Even a small light can push back great darkness," he said. Framing his other remarks around the idea that New Year's resolutions should aim "not merely to declare intentions, but to change outcomes", he outlined five priorities for the Council that concerned disarming Hamas in Gaza, addressing Iranian-backed terrorism in Lebanon, reforming the Palestinian Authority, protecting minorities in Syria and delivering normalization and cooperation through pragmatism. These five priorities, he said, aim for "a different future for our region - a future where terror is confronted, not excused, and antisemitic hatred is challenged, not tolerated".
Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here .
