Ambassadors from the UN Security Council visited Egypt on Monday to meet with victims in Gaza affected by the conflict between Israel and Hamas. This visit comes just days after the United States blocked a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
UN Security Council ambassadors travelled to Egypt on Monday to meet Gazan victims of the war between Israel and Hamas, days after the United States blocked a ceasefire resolution.
The informal one-day trip organized by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt came amid a spiraling humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza, described as a “graveyard” by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Around a dozen ambassadors, from countries including Russia and Britain, took part.
But the US, which vetoed the Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire on Friday, did not send a representative, and neither did France.
The envoys visited a hospital in El-Arish, near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, treating people who had been evacuated from the conflict.
Among the people they met was Wafaa Asaad, a 27-year-old from Gaza who was heavily pregnant when her house was hit by an Israeli strike, killing her husband and injuring her two daughters.
She was evacuated to Egypt for medical treatment and had an arm and leg amputated, but miraculously managed to give birth just hours after crossing the border, her sister Alaa told the media.
“Our message to the UN is we want the war to stop,” Alaa said, her newborn niece laying on a bed beside her.
Ecuador’s envoy Jose de la Gasca told the media that he was “destroyed” by the visit to the hospital.
“I just met a young mother who lost a kid and has another little girl who is wounded,” he said.
“I dont ever want to see again what I have just seen. It’s horrible.”
The diplomats were later due to visit the Rafah crossing, the only gateway into Gaza.
Departures via the crossing are tightly controlled, with only foreign nationals and severely wounded people allowed to leave Gaza in most circumstances.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
