Statement by Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, at the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on the Situation in Palestine (17 June 2025)

Statement by Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, at the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on the Situation in Palestine (17 June 2025)

Mr. President,

We thank you for continuing the debate in this resumed session of the Tenth Emergency Special Session, pursuant to the joint requests of the Arab Group and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Mr. President,

2. We meet amid profound anguish and disappointment, and mounting human despair. Despite broad support for a principled, balanced and humanitarian draft resolution on Gaza — advanced by ten elected members of the Security Council, including Pakistan — it was vetoed. Once again, a vital opportunity to uphold the UN Charter and collective responsibility was lost.

3. In such moments, the responsibility of this General Assembly — the most representative and democratic organ of the United Nations — is magnified. It must speak where the Council has been prevented from acting. The resolution adopted by this Assembly last week entitled, “Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations,” was a necessary assertion of international will. Pakistan is proud to have supported and co-sponsored this initiative.

4. The resolution calls for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire; release of hostages; condemns the weaponization of starvation; demands unimpeded humanitarian access; and insist on accountability and compliance with international law. Moreover, the resolution recalls that this is a situation of illegal occupation, and reiterates the obligations of Israel the occupying power under international law. These are not aspirations — they are obligations. The international community must act with urgency to ensure their implementation.

Mr. President,

5. The situation in Gaza is a stain on our collective conscience. Over 55,000 lives have been lost, including 18,000 children and 28,000 women. Infrastructure has been razed — homes, hospitals, schools, cultural heritage, places of worship. Famine looms. Humanitarian workers and UN personnel are being attacked with impunity. This is not just a humanitarian catastrophe; it is a collapse of humanity.

6. Against this backdrop, Pakistan reiterates the immediate steps necessary not only to stem this horror, but to lay the foundations for a just and lasting peace:

• First, an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire. Resolution 2735 must be implemented in full. The killing must stop — now.

• Second, the full and unconditional lifting of the Gaza blockade. Humanitarian aid must flow freely and safely. International agencies must be empowered, not hindered.

• Third, the full restoration of UNRWA’s mandate, access, and funding. It is indispensable to the survival and dignity of Palestinians. Attempts to politicize or undermine and delegitimize UNRWA are deeply counterproductive and must end.

• Fourth, and most critically, we must confront the root cause: the prolonged, illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. There will be no durable peace without justice, and no justice without the realization of the two-State solution — based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of a sovereign, independent, and contiguous State of Palestine.

7. In this regard, Pakistan looks forward to the convening of the High-level Conference on Palestine and the two-state solution in coming weeks, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. We must work together to ensure its tangible outcomes in advancing a credible path toward durable peace, Palestinian statehood and its full membership of the United Nations. It will be yet another clear demonstration of where the international community stands on this issue.

Mr. President,

8. The stakes could not be higher. The international community must not look away. The credibility of the international system — of multilateralism itself — is on trial. It is ludicrous that the occupying power, the worst violator of international law and those who protect and shield it, can stand in this August Assembly, criticizing and blaming the rest of the international community for being on the right side of history. Moral bankruptcy must have no space in this house. We must rise above politics and pressure, and act with moral clarity, legal integrity, and political will. We must condemn aggression.

9. Pakistan’s commitment to the Palestinian people is unwavering. We stand with them in their rightful struggle for dignity, self-determination, and peace. We will continue to raise our voice — in solidarity and in hope — until justice is done, until the occupation is ended, and their inalienable rights are realized. That is in line with the permanent responsibility of the United Nations with regard to the question of Palestine until it is resolved in all its aspects in accordance with international law and the relevant UN resolutions.

I thank you.