UN Coordinator Ramiz Al-Akbrov Warns Gaza Faces Enormous Suffering Despite Ceasefire

The UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine, Ramiz Al-Akbrov, told the Security Council that Gaza continues to face deep uncertainty and enormous humanitarian suffering despite the ceasefire announced eight months ago.

Speaking via video from Jerusalem, Al-Akbrov said: "This expansion into areas under Israeli control is shrinking the space available to civilians; Palestinians in Gaza are increasingly confined to limited areas, living amid insecurity and violence."

Agence Media Palestine

He also warned that "needs remain enormous" and condemned the ongoing killing and injury of civilians in Gaza, including women and children.

Al-Akbrov reaffirmed the Secretary-General's deep concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and called on all parties to facilitate the passage of humanitarian aid in full, quickly and without impediments, adding: "Humanitarian aid must never be used as a bargaining chip."

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission warned on Monday about an Israeli plan to seize around 100 strategic locations in Area (A) of the occupied West Bank, describing it as an escalation aimed at accelerating de facto annexation and fragmenting Palestinian territory.

Head of the Commission, Minister Mu’ayyad Shaaban, said the plan marks a qualitative shift in the colonial project intended to undermine Palestinian geography and accelerate annexation measures.

Amnesty International

Shaaban added that expanding settler attacks and outposts reflects a shift toward formal implementation of settlement expansion, warning that international silence may entrench these policies.

In the same warning, the commission said the plan is led by colonization groups including the “Colonization Farms Union,” and that targeting Area A, which falls under Palestinian civil and security control, constitutes a direct violation of existing arrangements and an attempt to impose a new reality.

In Gaza-related war coverage, the BBC described Israel’s controversial E1 settlement plan as threatening to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state," with the project aimed at building 3,401 housing units in the occupied West Bank between East Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim settlement.

The BBC reported that Smotrich backed the project, calling the move a "historic milestone," while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called it "a continuation of genocidal crimes, displacement and annexation," accusations Israel has long rejected.

The BBC said the E1 site is seen as an obstacle to a contiguous Palestinian urban area linking Ramallah, East Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, and cited Peace Now saying the new housing would represent a 33% increase in the size of the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, which currently houses about 38,000 people.

In parallel, the UN Resident Coordinator warned that developments entrench the illegal Israeli occupation and threaten the viability of a fully independent, sovereign and territorially contiguous Palestinian state, while also voicing deep concern about the scale of displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank.