“Security Council Convenes on Escalating Middle East Crisis”

Video feed of the meeting, expected to start at 3 PM.
That’s a wrap from us at UN News on these latest emergency meetings called to address the widening crisis focused on the war in Gaza. Here are the key points from the afternoon:
HIGHLIGHTS
“Any persons displaced from Gaza must be allowed to return, as international law demands,” said UN humanitarian affairs chief Martin Griffiths, reiterating his call for a ceasefire
Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, said “compelled evacuations, failing to meet the necessary conditions for lawfulness, therefore potentially amount to forcible transfer, a war crime”
Council members pointed to a “catastrophe” in Gaza, with some calling for an immediate ceasefire and others worrying about the conflict’s spillover into the region
“Silence is complicity,” said Algeria’s Ambassador, echoing calls for a ceasefire
“The Palestinian people are here to stay; the lesson of the Holocaust is not that you should defend Israel when it is committing atrocities, but rather that one should stand against atrocities regardless of who commits them and who endures them,” said the Permanent Observer of the observer State of Palestine, adding that “this is a Nakba that the world is watching unfold”
Israel’s Ambassador said “there is no forced displacement; Israel has no intention of displacing the population in Gaza”
Senior official from the UN political and peacebuilding affairs department, Khaled Khiari, said escalating confrontation between Houthi rebels and a US-led coalition defending international shipping in the Red Sea was cause for alarm, urging de-escalation
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6:00 PM
Houthi strikes, necessary and proportionate: US
US Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said the strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen overnight Thursday were to “disrupt and degrade” the group’s “reckless attacks” against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Aden.
These strikes were necessary and proportionate, she added, noting that “they were consistent with international law and in exercise of the US’ inherent right to self-defence, as reflected by Article 51 of the UN Charter.”
Informing the Security Council of the allies’ reasons for the strikes, she emphasized that no one is immune, including Russia, from the attacks perpetrated by Houthis against ships and vessels.
“So long as any one of our ships is vulnerable, all of our ships are vulnerable,” she said, noting that, since November, over 2,000 ships have had to be diverted in the face of Houthi threats and that the rebels have attacked and taken hostage mariners from over 20 countries.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the United States addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security. She recalled this week’s resolution adopted by the Security Council that called on the Houthis to cease their attacks and condemned those that provided arms and assistance needed to carry out those attacks.
“This resolution also referenced the inherent right of Member States, in accordance with international law, to defend their vessels from attacks,” the Ambassador said.
“Yesterday’s strike was the latest in a series of actions taken in self-defence, taken by the US alongside other countries and one that occurred against a broad diplomatic backdrop of global condemnation,” she said.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield emphasized that her country does not desire more conflict in the region.
“Our aim is simple: to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, while upholding the fundamental principles of freedom of navigation,” she said.
5:43 PM
Mr. Nebenzia, Russia’s Ambassador, said that given the blatant armed aggression against another country, his delegation would have preferred to see the UN Secretary-General briefing the Council. Yesterday’s aggression by a so-called “international coalition” saw attacks against Yemen and its people, with aircraft and sea vessels hitting multiple cities, bombarding airports and other infrastructure.
The same destruction has been unfolding in Gaza, with the war now spreading to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, he said, adding that these massive strikes by the US and UK have “nothing in common” with the right to self-defence.
“The actions of the coalition violate Article II of the UN Charter,” he said. “The freedom of navigation is governed by the Law of the Sea.”
In this vein, a dispute should be filed to the appropriate body. In line with Russia’s consistent calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, he said the Council’s attempts to do so have been obstructed by the US, which had given a “twisted explanation” for its criminal acts in Council discussions on the resolution it adopted on the Red Sea.
The US and its allies have a record of gross violations, he said, adding that Washington is also covering up is actions in Syria with “a fig leaf”.
With regard to Gaza, he said the Middle East is now facing a critical situation.
“If the escalation continues, the region could encounter a catastrophe,” he said, adding that the responsibility for this should be on the US. As such, he called on the international community to condemn the attack against Yemen and for further global efforts to stop the violence in the Middle East.
5:37 PM
Security of wider region increasingly at risk: Khiari
Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General at the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), said that the cycle of violence in Yemen and Red Sea risks grave political, security, economic and humanitarian repercussions not only for the war-torn and impoverished country itself but also the wider region.
“Recent humanitarian improvements in the country are fragile and could easily be reversed if there are further incidents, while progress on reaching a political settlement to end the war in Yemen could also be undermined, leaving the people of Yemen facing the impact of continued conflict,” he said.
On Thursday, US and UK military forces, supported by four other nations, reportedly conducted over 50 air and missile strikes on targets across Yemen, following attacks by the Houthi rebel group targeting ships and vessels in the Red Sea. “These developments in the Red Sea and the risk of exacerbating regional tensions are alarming,” he warned.
“The Houthis’ attack following the adoption of the Security Council resolution and yesterday’s [Thursday’s] events further demonstrate that the region is on a dangerous escalatory trajectory which could potentially impact millions in Yemen, the region and globally,” Mr. Khiari added.
He also recalled the UN Secretary General’s call on all parties involved not to escalate the situation.
“All concerned parties must do their utmost to avoid further escalation, reduce tensions and exercise restraint,” Mr. Khiari said, calling on the Security Council to continue its efforts to prevent further escalation.
5:35 PM
The meeting on the Red Sea crisis is now underway. Khaled Khiari from the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations is going to brief on the issue.
5:25 PM
This afternoon’s first meeting around the horseshoe table in the Security Council Chamber has just finished, but delegations are still in place to discuss the related escalation of violence besetting the Red Sea – a crucial international shipping lane that has recently been under attack by Houthi rebels on the coast of Yemen.
Just a few hours ago, the UN chief António Guterres urged all countries involved in trying to protect the waterway from the spillover from Gaza to avoid escalation following what the US and UK described as a defensive action taken to bomb Houthi positions overnight on Thursday.
The Secretary-General said the Houthi’s mounting attacks – there have been over two dozen in recent weeks – which the rebel group says are in solidarity with the Palestinian cause in Gaza, are unacceptable and must stop, in line with a resolution passed just a few days ago in the Security Council.
5:05 PM
Israel has ‘no intention’ of displacing Gaza’s population: Erdan
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan said numerous UN meetings have been held and resolutions adopted, but not one condemned Hamas’s attacks and hostage taking. Similarly, there has been no meeting held to help free those kidnapped by Palestinian militants. Israel supports efforts to supply humanitarian aid, he said. Hamas has not permitted the Red Cross to visit the hostages, he said, and the UN “can only unite on one thing: the demonization of Israel”.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has failed to condemn the 7 October Hamas attacks. For the past 76 years, Arabs have used every means to annihilate Israel, he said. There is not a single UN body that remains untainted by anti-Israel messages. Ambassador Gilad Erdan of Israel