Algeria Condemns UN Security Council Inertia in Face of Palestinians’ Tragedy in Gaza

NEW YORK (United Nations) — Algeria deplored on Tuesday in New York the “deafening silence” and “unacceptable inertia” of the United Nations (UN) Security Council for over a year in the face of the tragedy suffered by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, affirming that the absence of accountability and the policy of double standards have emboldened the Zionist entity to continue its campaign of genocide and systematic destruction of Palestinian lives.

During a Security Council session addressing “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,” Algeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amar Bendjama, said that “this session represents a break with the deafening silence of this Council, this unacceptable inertia for more than a year in the face of the tragedy experienced by the Palestinian people,” noting that during the last two months, 2,273 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded.

He also added that the tireless efforts of the UN Secretary-General to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people, although deeply appreciated by Algeria, have unfortunately “not shaken the intransigence of the occupier, which remains determined to pursue its ongoing deadly campaign, a campaign of genocide, a campaign of ethnic cleansing, a campaign of collective punishment and of systematic destruction of Palestinian life and livelihood.”

“Worse still, the international community and this very Security Council failed to extend the level of support required  to make these efforts impactful,” Bendjama continued.

For Bendjama, “the absence of collective action, the lack of accountability and the double standards have emboldened the occupier to act with total impunity, total immunity.”

“Today, we find ourselves at a critical juncture,” he warned.

“For over 18 months, the people of Palestine, particularly in Gaza, have endured unspeakable horrors, mass killings, mass starvation, mass displacement and mass destruction, ” Bendjama  said.

Abandoned and defenceless,  “the Palestinian people face one of the most ruthless occupying forces in the world,” he continued.

The Algerian ambassador further emphasized that the deliberate targeting of Palestinian civilians, ordered by the highest Zionist political and military authorities, “is evident and well documented.”

International humanitarian organizations have affirmed that Gaza is currently experiencing the worst humanitarian catastrophe since October 2023, he said, considering it “one of the worst humanitarian failures.”

“What kind of world are we living in when the use of starvation as a weapon of war is publicly promoted, publicly assumed, and they suffer no consequences?” he expressed indignantly, urging a ceasefire before it is too late.

He also added that the situation in the occupied West Bank was “equally concerning,” given that colonial expansion continues at a “record” pace, destroying entire communities, and that armed settler militias, protected by the occupation army, attack Palestinian families, burn homes, agricultural fields, and places of worship, in addition to forced expulsions of Palestinians in broad daylight.

Entire neighborhoods are transformed into military zones and arbitrary arrests, home demolitions and raids have become “a grim routine.”

“With the support of the international community, and through steadfast resistance, the Palestinian people will achieve their inalienable right to self-determination. They will establish their independent and sovereign state with al-Quds al-Sharif as its eternal capital,” Bendjama concluded.