New York, January 9, 2024.- Ambassador Gerardo Peñalver Portal, first deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, participated during the plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the use of the veto under the topic of Security Council agenda “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue.”
During his remarks, Peñalver Portal regretted that the second resolution on the situation in Palestine approved by the Security Council, on December 22, did not include a call for the immediate cessation of hostilities, to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population. from Gaza.
He explained that the immediate ceasefire is a priority to stop the genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. “Otherwise, the international community will be an inert witness to the extermination of the Palestinian people,” he argued.
The Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister explained that, in 90 days of escalation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military forces have murdered more than 23 thousand Palestinians, including more than 9 thousand children and said that nothing justifies the collective punishment to which they are subjected today. to the Palestinian people, in flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law.
Penalver Portal also denounced the complicity of the United States with Israel, the occupying power, as it not only obstructs the decision-making of the Security Council, but also arms and resupplies the war machine that massacres the Palestinian people.
He called on the Security Council to fulfill his mandate to end the impunity that Israel enjoys for the commission of its crimes against humanity and its violations of International Law and International Humanitarian Law in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The diplomat advocated, on behalf of Cuba, the search for a prompt solution through negotiation, to stop this massacre and escalation of violence, its very serious humanitarian consequences and its impact on the Middle East region, and further eaffirmed the will of the Greater Antilles to contribute to legitimate international efforts to put an end to the current situation.
"The time to act is now. Let us make humanity prevail over violence and barbarism,” he concluded.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations