Pakistan has urged the UN Security Council to demand an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to halt the bloodshed and destruction in Gaza, Radio Pakistan reports.

Delivering a statement at the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East including the Palestinian Question, Pakistan’s Alternate Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said the bloodshed in Gaza must end. He asked the international community to finally come together to defend and uphold the universal respect for the UN Charter and international law.

He called on the Security Council to establish safe and secure humanitarian corridors to allow people to access life-saving care and prioritise reconstruction efforts aimed at rebuilding Gaza’s shattered healthcare system.

Asim Iftikhar reiterated Pakistan’s call for Palestine to be granted full membership of the United Nations and termed this step a moral imperative that will ensure the irreversibility of the two-state solution.