• Calls for a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, writes to UNSC over India’s disregard for Indus Waters Treaty and UN resolutions
• Chinese UN envoy calls on Israel to stop violating Gaza ceasefire
• Unicef says Gaza ceasefire is a ‘deadly illusion’ as 265 children killed since October
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Gaza remains in a perilous state, urging the 15-member body to keep the deeply disturbing humanitarian situation under close watch as international attention shifts back to the war-shattered enclave.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, the permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, highlighted the plight of the people of Gaza who have suffered through months of Israeli military strikes and ground offensives.
“The Council needs to keep the deeply disturbing situation in Gaza under close watch,” he said.
Speaking at a council meeting requested by the 10 elected members, Mr Ahmad emphasised that despite the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2803, Israeli ceasefire violations continue and the humanitarian crisis remains acute.
“Civilians continue to endure immense hardship, marked by killing, deprivation, displacement and an uncertain future,” Mr Ahmad said.
He stated that over 90 per cent of Gaza’s population is displaced, with acute hunger affecting hundreds of thousands, while overcrowding and poor sanitation fuel disease outbreaks.
The ambassador called for resolution 2803 (2025) to be fully implemented, paving the way towards a permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, immediate reconstruction without conditional delays, and a credible, time-bound political process for Palestinian self-determination.
Mr Ahmad stressed that the core issue is the arbitrary denial and delay of humanitarian access, calling it a recurring pattern of Israeli policy and a violation of international law.
He demanded that all crossings, including Rafah, be opened for aid, commercial supplies, and medical evacuations.
Mr Ahmad also called for a time-bound political process for Palestinian self-determination, stating the core lies in establishing a sovereign, independent, and contiguous State of Palestine on pre-1967 borders, with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital.
UN officials provided stark warnings during the session.
Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, acknowledged that Resolution 2803 and its US-backed peace plan brought some results, including reduced civilian harm and the return of remaining hostages.
However, Fletcher underscored that the plan was meant to deliver much more.
Echoing Fletcher’s concerns, the UN children’s agency charged on Friday that the ceasefire declared more than eight months ago has become a “cruel and a deadly illusion,” with 265 children killed since the fighting supposedly stopped.
Despite an October 2025 ceasefire, Israel has continued to launch strikes across Gaza, killing at least 992 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry. Unicef spokesman James Elder, speaking from Amman, called the number of child fatalities an “absurd and devastating figure”.
“During a period supposedly defined by restraint and protection, a child has been killed, on average, every single day for more than eight months,” Elder told reporters in Geneva. He stressed that these children were not killed in war zones, but in their homes, in schools, and while playing.
Elder reported that over 400 children have been injured since the ceasefire began. He noted that Israeli restrictions on essential medicines mean wounded children endure greater pain and face increased risks of infection, complications, and further amputations.
“The continued killing of children is not the consequence of a lack of options. It is the consequence of a lack of political will,” Elder insisted, urging the international community to stop normalising the abnormal.
Backing the UN’s assessments, China’s permanent representative to the UN, Fu Cong, called on Israel to stop violating the ceasefire. Speaking at the emergency Security Council session, Fu expressed grave concern over Israel’s continual expansion of military occupation in Gaza, according to state media Xinhua.
Letter on India’s IWT violations
Meanwhile, the Pakistani ambassador handed over a formal letter from Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, to Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres of Colombia, the president of the Security Council for June.
The letter draws urgent attention to India’s continued “illegal actions and violations” of the World Bank-brokered 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
Specifically, the communication highlights two illegal Indian infrastructure projects linked to the Chenab River system aimed at water diversion.
The letter argues these projects reveal India’s intention to illegally alter treaty-governed flows of the western rivers, weaponising water with dangerous implications for Pakistan’s water, food, and economic security. It urges the Security Council to take cognisance of this “fragile and deteriorating situation and hold India accountable for its brazen violations”.
At the close of the proceedings, Ahmad briefed the council president on India’s continued non-compliance with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions regarding the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2026