UN Palestinian envoy urges immediate cease-fire to undermine Netanyahu's goals

WASHINGTON

Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, urged an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to undermine Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's goals.

"We are well aware of the objective of the conflicting messages from Israeli leaders, notably Netanyahu himself, suggesting this is all a scheme and that the assault will continue under any circumstances. The aim is to sabotage the US initiative without taking the blame for it, to sabotage the efforts of Egypt and Qatar and the international community as a whole.

"The best way to frustrate Netanyahu’s goals is by achieving an immediate cease-fire. Achieve an immediate cease-fire now so as not to allow them to continue playing with the minds of so many of you. The best way to save human life is by achieving an immediate cease-fire," Mansour told a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue.

Mansour urged no arms, money or trade with Israel and noted the obligations of all states.

"Let me say this in the clearest way I can: No arms to kill us, no money to colonize us, no trade to rob us. Every state has a duty to start from there to make sure its government, entities, companies and citizens do not contribute in any way, anymore, to Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people," he added.

Mansour said it is time to end "this illegal 57-year occupation."

In recent months, Israeli military, security, and political leaders have taken responsibility for the failure that led to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Netanyahu, however, refuses to accept any responsibility for the attack.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since the Hamas attack.

Nearly 37,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.