We Must Act Now to Stop the Zionist Entity’s Crimes in Gaza, Says Bendjama
NEW YORK (United Nations) – Algeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amar Bendjama, urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday to act “immediately” to stop crimes being committed by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
“Algeria, bears its responsibility and is determined to push the Council to act. The time for indecision is over,” said Bendjama during his speech at the Security Council’s meeting, dedicated to the Palestinian cause.
“Words of condemnation are no longer enough. We must act now. Since October 7, Israel, the occupying power, has killed more than 54,000 people and wounded more than 123,000 people. Since March 18 alone, more than 3,900 have been killed. And over 11,000 wounded,” he added.
“How many more must die before action is taken by the Security Council? How many orphans must roam the ruins of Gaza? How much more blood must be spilled before this Council acknowledges that enough is enough?” said Bendjama.
“Figures lost meaning. What is worth of saying? 18,000 children dead. These are not only numbers. These are lives. These are dreams. These are voices, playtimes, lullabies, that were extinguished.”
“They were the warmth of homes, the joy of classrooms. They were the pulse of neighborhood.”
“Their deaths were not collateral. They were the consequences of a system that sees Palestinian lives as not human, as disposable,” said Bendjama.
Bendjama mentioned the case of pediatrician Alaa al-Najjar, who lost her nine children, aged between six months and twelve years, a few days ago and who suffered the torture of having to identify their “calcinated remains” one after the other, while her husband was in a coma and her tenth son was seriously injured.
To illustrate his remarks, the diplomat showed to the Security Council members a photo of Alaa’s children who fell as martyrs following a strike by the Zionist army against their home.
He also spoke of Warda Sheikh Khalil, a girl aged barely six years, saved from the flames that engulfed the school where she was located and which served as a refuge for the displaced.
“Her mother, brothers and sisters were killed. Her father now clings to life,” he said. “No one in Gaza is spared: neither the doctors, nor the women, nor the children, nor the displaced persons. Not even hope itself,” he said.
Bendjama recalled that the General Assembly, the Security Council and the international community had promised the Palestinian people a sovereign State with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. “Yet, three decades after Oslo, the dream of a Palestinian state is vanishing under the boots of the Israeli occupation and the silence of the international community. The occupation persists (in its crimes), encouraged by impunity and immunity,” he noted.
“At the same, settler violence escalates, settlements expand, the Palestinian land is swallowed inch by inch. And holy sites are desecrated while the world looks on,” he said.
He further quoted the speech of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, regarding the Palestinian cause.
“We must act decisively to end the ongoing historical injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian people. We must urgently revive the peace process, which is currently facing an unprecedented deadlock. It is imperative to compel the occupying power to comply with the relevant United Nations resolutions and to adhere to its obligations,” said the President of the Republic.
