Even representatives of some of Israel’s staunchest allies, including the United States, held that, while Israel had the right to defend itself, the way in which it did so must remain within the bounds of international law and with regard to the safety of noncombatants.
“It means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians,” said the U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken. “It means food, water, medicine, and other essential humanitarian assistance must be able to flow into Gaza and to the people who need them. It means civilians must be able to get out of harm’s way. It means humanitarian pauses must be considered for these purposes.”
Arab foreign ministers took a united stand with their Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, saying outside of the Security Council chamber that their top objective was an immediate cease-fire and getting aid to flow, at scale, into Gaza. They warned that if the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were not addressed and resolved, it would feed more extremism that could risk engulfing the entire region.
The U.N. ambassador from Iran, which has close ties to Hamas and provides it with military and financial support, accused Israel of “apartheid policies” against Palestinians. The official, Saeid Iravani, called Israel’s strikes in Gaza a “brutal massacre.”
The foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt, which border Israel, delivered angry statements accusing the Security Council and Israeli allies of applying double standards and sending a message to the world’s two billion Muslims that their lives are valued less.
“Enough with the war, enough with the despair,” said Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, “enough with the oppression, enough with the killing, enough with the violence and enough with the double standards of international law.”
