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Pakistan slams UNSC veto on Gaza aid resolution, warns of worsening humanitarian catastrophe

By The South Asia Times

UNITED NATIONS – Pakistan has strongly criticized the UN Security Council’s failure to adopt a humanitarian resolution on Gaza, blaming the use of the veto for enabling Israel’s ongoing assault and deepening the suffering of Palestinians.

Speaking at the Council’s meeting on Meddle East, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said his country voted in favor of the draft resolution introduced by the ten elected members (E10) and commended Denmark for coordinating the initiative. Thirteen Council members supported the text, but it was blocked by the US .

“This was not a routine procedural matter; it was an opportunity to act in the face of unprecedented brutality,” Ahmad said. “What prevented the Council from acting was the exercise of the veto. In moments of such grave human suffering, preventing action risks being seen as enabling the continuation of that suffering.”

He described Gaza as being “trapped between relentless bombardment and a suffocating blockade,” where hospitals have collapsed, children are starving, and families are without water, medicine, or shelter. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed, with famine officially declared, he noted.

“The failure to act sends a dangerous message: that the lives of two million besieged Palestinians are expendable and can be subordinated to political considerations,” he warned.

The envoy also denounced Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, calling the latest E1 plan “a stark manifestation of settler colonialism in the 21st century” and “a death knell to the two-state solution.” He recalled ongoing proceedings at the International Court of Justice and UN findings that acts of genocide have been committed in Gaza.

Reaffirming Pakistan’s support for the Palestinian cause, Ahmad urged the Council to demand:

An immediate and permanent cease-fire;
An end to the blockade and unimpeded humanitarian access across Gaza;
And a just, lasting solution based on a sovereign Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

“The cries of children should pierce our hearts. The anguish of mothers should shake our conscience,” Ahmad said, pledging Pakistan would “continue to act, to speak, and to uphold our responsibilities” toward the Palestinian people.