Cuba’s alternate permanent representative at the UN, Yusnier Romero, lamented the loss of human lives among UNRWA workers, due to the indiscriminate bombings by Israel.
“Nothing can justify the serious violations of International Humanitarian Law that are being committed against Gaza,” the ambassador emphasized.
Israel transgresses each and every UN resolution and its obligations as an occupying power under the 4th Geneva Convention by fully trusting that protection from the UN Security Council’s paralysis on this issue will ensure its continued evasion of responsibilities, he denounced.
Romero described as inadmissible the assassinations of 70 UNRWA members in the Gaza Strip since October 7. It is an affront to the United Nations, as well as to the purposes and principles on which it is founded.
The Cuban representative insisted on the insufficient humanitarian aid within the Gaza Strip, and acknowledged the work of the Agency in this complex panorama.
UNRWA staff working today in Gaza hosts some 690,000 internally displaced people, who took refuge in 149 facilities throughout Gaza, he said.
Providing humanitarian aid amid this catastrophe of Dantesque proportions is extremely difficult. The lack of fuel, continuous bombings, the destruction of infrastructure and the interruptions in communication networks significantly worsens the situation around the UN agency, whose work is more necessary than ever, Romero noted.
“We are aware of the need to make every possible effort so that the important work of the Agency continues, even more so in this context of merciless war, where more than 3,700 children and 9,000 people have been killed, while thousands of others remain trapped under the rubble, waiting for possible rescuers, who may be able to save them or bury them,” he noted.
The Cuban ambassador called on all UN member States to show political will to guarantee sufficient, predictable and sustained financing for the organization.
He stressed the need for a broad, just and lasting solution to the conflict, which requires the real exercise of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to build their own independent and sovereign State within the pre-1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem, as well as the refugees’ right to return home.
There is no other effective way to stop this spiral of violence once and for all, save human lives and chart a viable course for peace, he stressed.
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