In a rare move, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres used his power to force the U.N. Security Council to address the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The council is expected to discuss the 2-month-old war at a meeting on Friday, after the United Arab Emirates and Russia announced they were calling for an emergency session.
On Wednesday, Guterres invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter to address an impending humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the first time he's used that power since becoming secretary-general in Jan. 2017. Guterres urged the council to demand an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.
"It is an extremely rarely used tool and as big of an alarm bell as it gets regarding international peace and security," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general.
The move came as Israel’s air and ground offensive in southern Gaza displaced tens of thousands more Palestinians.
More than 80% of Gaza's population have been forced to flee their homes since the war began on Oct. 7 with Hamas' surprise attack on Israel and hostage-taking of some 250 people, including 34 children, more than 130 of whom are still captive.
Hamas' attack killed 1,200 Israelis and the fighting since has killed at least 16,248 Palestinians – more than 40% of them children.
Now, "civilians throughout Gaza face grave danger," Guterres wrote in his letter to the council's president.
Another 43,616 Palestinians and 5,431 Israelis have been injured, at least 50,000 homes destroyed and 1.93 million people displaced in Gaza, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Guterres expressed alarm about the more than 1 million people now living in "overcrowded, undignified and unhygienic conditions" at refugee facilities. Others have nowhere to shelter and find themselves on the street. Explosive remnants of war are rendering areas uninhabitable. There is no effective protection of civilians."
About 57% of the displaced people in Gaza are taking cover in shelters operated by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Most of the others – those not living on the street – are staying with host families, or in government and public shelters.
"We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system," Guterres wrote. "The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost."
'Remember us'
The U.N. Charter's Article 99 says the U.N. chief can bring before the 15-nation council any matter that he believes is a threat to international peace and security, which is the council's mandate.
"Given the scale of the loss of human life in Gaza and in Israel, in such a short amount of time, the secretary-general has today delivered a letter to the president of the Security Council invoking Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations," U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters.
"The secretary-general urges the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe, and he appeals for a humanitarian cease-fire to be declared," Dujarric said.
Normally, member nations set the agenda for the council, which is the only U.N. entity that can issue legally binding resolutions and is dominated by permanent members China, France, Russia, the U.S. and the U.K.
The council has often been deadlocked in geopolitical standoffs, such as Russia's war in Ukraine and U.S.-backed Israel's war in Gaza. U.S. President Joe Biden has won majority support from his Democratic Party for being a strong supporter of Israel while arguing for more protections and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, a new poll found.
Israeli's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen – who last month called for Guterres' resignation and accused him of not condemning Hamas harshly enough and being too close to Iran – described the U.N. chief’s latest move as tantamount to "support of the Hamas terrorist organization and an endorsement of the murder of the elderly, the abduction of babies and the rape of women."
Guterres, in his letter, said the health care system in Gaza is collapsing, with hospitals turned into battlegrounds and 14 of 36 facilities still even partially operational. Two major hospitals are operating at three times their bed capacity and running out of basic items and fuel, he said, while also sheltering thousands of other people.
"Nowhere is safe in Gaza," Guterres wrote.
Earlier, Dr. Christos Christou, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, wrote an open letter to the Security Council asking that they use their leverage to help stop the bloodshed in Gaza.
"We urge you to take action to uphold our shared humanity," he said, recalling the words of Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, one of several doctors killed in a strike last month on a hospital in Gaza.
“We did what we could. Remember us,” Abu Nujaila wrote on a hospital whiteboard normally used for planning surgeries.
This story has been updated with additional details.
