Joint Nordic Statement on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip

Check Against Delivery

Thank you Mr. President

I am taking the floor on behalf of the Nordic countries – Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and my own country, Denmark.

We have listened with great concern to the briefings by UN agencies here today. We thank you for your efforts and hard work under extremely difficult circumstances.

The Nordic countries reiterate our strong condemnation of Hamas’ terrorist attacks. We re-emphasize Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international humanitarian law.

We are extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its grave impact on the civilian population More than an estimated 11,000 civilians have been killed. Almost half of them are children. This is unacceptable, and the situation is getting worse by the hour.

Allow me to reiterate the urgent need for full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access to and throughout Gaza, to ensure that aid reaches all those in need. We have no time to lose. We welcome the fact that trucks with humanitarian aid are now entering Gaza on a daily basis through the Rafah crossing. But much more help is needed to meet the dire needs. More humanitarian aid must reach the civilian population of Gaza, who are desperately in need of food, water, shelter, electricity, and medical care. This must happen now.

Fuel is an absolute necessity for the aid to reach the people in need throughout Gaza.

Distinguished colleagues,

We need to urgently establish extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip as an incremental step to ensure that emergency aid can arrive, and that civilians, medical personnel, and humanitarian workers can seek protection.

Allow me to further emphasize the requirement to protect civilians at all times, in line with international humanitarian law. Respecting IHL encompasses the protection of civilian infrastructure, schools and hospitals. Medical personnel and humanitarian relief personnel must be protected by all parties to the conflict, and the fundamental IHL principles must be complied with in all military action. Hospitals must not be used to shield military objectives from attack.

The situation again highlights that the only sustainable way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a negotiated two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders. We as the international community must bear our responsibility by making the strongest possible push for negotiations as soon as it becomes possible.

Let me conclude by conveying our deepest gratitude to the UN and other humanitarian actors for their tireless efforts to ensure the urgent delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza. We commend the humanitarian personnel working night and day in Gaza under extreme conditions to facilitate the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance. This heroic work has currently cost also at least 102 UN personnel their lives. We reiterate that humanitarian workers and UN personnel must be protected at all times.

Thank you.