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United Nations Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency session Saturday following Israel’s announcement of plans to fully occupy Gaza City, a move that has drawn widespread international condemnation.
The meeting was requested by the permanent missions of the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Greece, and Slovenia, according to information obtained by Anadolu on Friday. Diplomatic sources said the session was supported by all members of the Security Council except for Panama, which holds the rotating presidency this month, and the United States.
The meeting is expected to take place Saturday (August 9) afternoon.
Palestine’s U.N. envoy, Riyad Mansour, called on the international community to act immediately to stop Israel’s planned reoccupation.
“It is the duty of the international community to act,” Mansour told reporters at UN headquarters in New York following a meeting with Panama’s Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba, the current Security Council president.
Mansour said he had brought to the president’s “immediate attention the declaration from the Israeli government to have a massive military operation in which they’re intending to have a total control in a military form by the Israeli forces, and they want to start by a massive operation against the city of Gaza, which about 1 million people populate.”
He described Israel’s escalation as “in total contradiction to the will of the international community, international law, and common sense.”
Mansour also said a letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be delivered to the Security Council, urging the body to “shoulder its responsibilities and to act immediately.”
“Our objective is to stop Israel from taking this extremely dangerous escalation, and I hope that we collectively would succeed in avoiding such a crazy, irresponsible, dangerous, vicious plan that the Israeli political leadership, led by Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, is contemplating to do at any moment,” he said.
“What we need is peace. What we need is to stop the fighting. What we need is to feed the hungry people, not to kill them — the Palestinians in Gaza,” Mansour added.
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The Israeli Security Cabinet formally announced Netanyahu’s plan to take full control of Gaza City early Friday. The declaration comes as Israel continues to face growing international outrage over its ongoing military campaign in the enclave.
Since October 2023, Israeli operations in Gaza have killed more than 61,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. The offensive has devastated the densely populated territory and contributed to deaths caused by hunger and starvation.
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