A senior UN official on Thursday welcomed the recently implemented Gaza ceasefire, calling it a “ray of hope” for the ongoing suffering of Palestinians.
“We meet today in the early days of the ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. This critical and long-awaited agreement offers a ray of hope, a long-overdue moment that provides much-needed relief for Palestinians in Gaza and the hostages reunited with their loved ones,” Khaled Khiari, UN assistant secretary-general for the Middle East and Asia and the Pacific, told a Security Council session on cooperation with the League of Arab States.
He emphasized the importance of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and said the agency “must be enabled to carry out its mandate, as adopted by the General Assembly, in all its areas of operation.”
“We again commend the League of Arab States for its vocal support of this vital UN agency,” he said.
Khiari also denounced the ongoing Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank and raised concerns over the Israeli army’s offensive in the Jenin camp, which resulted in the killing of Palestinian civilians.
Regarding Libya, he said the “political deadlock persists” and stressed that “the fragile status quo risks being destabilized through unilateral actions.”
He noted the work of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), saying the mission launched “an intra-Libyan political initiative to take the country to elections.”
In recent years, Libya has faced a conflict between the Government of National Unity, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, based in the capital, Tripoli, and recognized internationally, and another government based in Benghazi, which controls the eastern part of the country and southern cities.
Khiari further expressed extreme concern over the ongoing violence in Sudan and said, “The fighting is devastating the lives of Sudanese civilians, threatening the future of the country, and increasingly impacting a region already beset by deep fragility, conflicts, and displacement.”
He stressed the need for diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in mid-April 2023, has claimed more than 20,000 lives and displaced 14 million people, according to the UN and local authorities.
A study by US-based universities estimates the death toll at around 130,000.
International organizations have warned about a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, with millions facing famine and death due to food shortages amid fighting that has spread to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states.