Pakistan has urged the UN Security Council not to remain a bystander while Palestinians were being “slaughtered, maimed and starved”, calling the situation in Gaza “one of the gravest humanitarian crises of our time”, the Associated Press of Pakistan reports.

“The cries from Gaza cannot continue to be met with silence — the world cannot afford another day of inaction,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 15-member UNSC during a debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

“The time to act, time to prevent genocide, is now,” APP quoted him as saying. “We must not allow the Israeli atrocities to be normalised, for that would be an affront to international law and human dignity.”

With at least 57 children already dead from hunger, Ambassador Ahmad said that “starvation is no longer a threat but a grim reality, with humanitarian convoys blocked or attacked”.

Ahmad added, “The time for equivocation is over. There is no justification whatsoever for the human suffering of the Palestinian people. Yes, enough is enough.”

“How many more atrocities must be committed before this Council does what is right morally, legally, and under the UN Charter? Words of concern are no longer enough.”

The Pakistani envoy described the trauma inflicted on Gaza’s population as “beyond measure, beyond imagination”. He said over 800 medical facilities have been attacked, with hospitals operating without essential supplies and targeting of ambulances and medical workers.