Ref.SGC. 52/25 - 19 March 2025

Excellency,

After committing over 1,000 violations of the ceasefire agreement, Israel has decided to totally collapse the agreement, resuming its killing and destruction spree with the massive bombardment of Gaza, again raining death and destruction on the Palestinian people.

We repeatedly warned the international community, including the Security Council, of the dangers of this eventuality. But, this has been to no avail, as on 2 March Israel reinstated a complete siege on Gaza, preventing entry of all humanitarian and commercial goods, on 9 March cut off electricity to the territory, and Israeli officials continued to incite for the ethnic cleansing and genocide of our people, and yet nothing was done to halt these violations and to protect the Palestinian people.

In pre-dawn hours of 18 March, Israeli warplanes once again savagely targeted civilian areas, terrorizing the population and killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinians as families slept in shelters, tents and what remain of their homes. Israeli occupying forces (IOF) carried out the attacks at the behest of the war criminal Israeli Prime Minister, who not only openly threatened the use of force, but publicly declared intent to act “with increasing might” and that “from now on [ceasefire] negotiations will only take place under fire”.

As of the writing of this letter, 436 Palestinians have been murdered in these Israeli attacks and 678 wounded, the majority of the victims children and women. While many of the casualties remain unaccounted for, still under the ruins of destroyed buildings, already 183 children and 94 women have been confirmed among the dead. This is unconscionable and deepens the shame on the international community as it stands by watching this genocide.

In fact, as reported by UNICEF, Israel’s attacks on 18 March caused the “largest single-day child death toll in the past year”. As stressed by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell: “Today, Gaza’s one million children – who have endured more than 15 months of war – have been plunged back into a world of fear and death. The attacks and violence must stop – now.”

And now Israel has resumed military ground operations in Gaza, seizing again the major corridor bisecting northern and southern Gaza. Moreover, IOF have demanded the evacuation of civilians from several areas, exploiting such military orders to continue its forced displacement of our people, now pushing them east to west and sending terrified families fleeing once more, most of them on foot. That this is all being perpetrated against a population that is again being starved and forced to live in darkness, deprived of electricity, spoiling the food stocks and medicines brought in by humanitarians during the ceasefire and again throwing remaining functioning hospitals into crisis, only further exposes the occupying Power’s depravity.

Moreover, in another act of total impunity, in grave violation of international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, Israel also today bombed UN facilities in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, striking at two building, killing one international staff member and seriously wounding five other international staff members of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

We appeal yet again to the international community to act with urgency to stop the Israeli war machine, stop the bloodshed, and save civilian lives. This ruthless, unlawful use of force against a defenseless civilian population must be halted immediately.

The Security Council in particular has a Charter duty to act in the face of these grave breaches of international law being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people and against the international community as a whole. The Council must demand respect for its authority and decisions, including resolution 2735 (2024), demand the immediate restoration of the ceasefire, including for the continued release of hostages and prisoners, and demand immediate, unimpeded entry of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, in line with its relevant resolutions.

Failure to act in the face of Israel’s serial violations, including blatant war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide, will further undermine any shred of credibility the Council may still have. There can be no excuses or justifications for delaying action to stop the unraveling of the ceasefire and the exacerbation of this already catastrophic situation. Every possible effort must be made to halt this aggression now, to protect the Palestinian people and to end this illegal occupation for once and for all.

This letter is in follow-up to our 860 letters on the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 13 March 2025 (A/ES-10/1024-S/2025/_) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations against our people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. This illegal colonial occupation and apartheid regime must end now.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the present letter circulated to the Security Council members for their valuable consideration and distributed as an official document of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Dr. Riyad Mansour
Minister, Permanent Observer