Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour has told a special session of the UN General Assembly that more than 7,000 civilians have been killed by Israel’s ferocious bombardment since October 7th, with 3,000 children among the casualties.
“Seven thousand Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the last almost three weeks. Seventy percent of all those killed are women and children. Almost all killed are civilians,” he said on Thursday.
“Is this the war some of you are defending? Let me repeat, is this the war that some of you are defending?” Mansour asked Western states.
“Three thousand children in Gaza were killed by Israel in the last almost three weeks. I repeat, 3,000 children. Innocent children. Angels killed in Gaza during the last three weeks,” he stated.
“Nothing can justify the killing of a single Palestinian child. Nothing. Nothing at all. Why not feel a sense of urgency to end our killing? Nothing can, as I said, justify war crimes. You are setting us back 80 years by trying to justify what Israel is doing now,” the Palestinian ambassador said.
“People are ordered to evacuate. They look at their children. Should we head south? Will we be bombed on the way or once there? Should we go to a hospital courtyard? A UN school? A church? A mosque? Sleep in our car in the streets? But bombs are everywhere,” he continued.
“Israel has destroyed over 40% of all homes, making an entire population homeless and displaced,” he noted.
“We don’t need you to offer us semantic reassurances about IHL (international humanitarian law) and protection of civilians,” he said.
“We need you to honor these norms under these norms, not recall them only to justify their breach seconds later. This selective outrage is outrageous and needs to stop and need to stop now,” the Palestinian ambassador stated.
Mansour’s comments follow an Israeli ground offensive into northern Gaza overnight ahead of a possible ground invasion.
On October 7, Hamas launched its biggest operation against Israel in years in a surprise offensive, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.
Since then, Israel has pressed ahead with a relentless bombardment of Gaza. The death toll in Gaza since the start of Israeli aggression has reached over 7,000 with more than 18,000 wounded.
Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the besieged territory into a humanitarian crisis.
