New York, January 28, 2026. – Cuba’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, addressed the Security Council’s open debate on the situation in the Middle-East, including the Palestinian issue, where he condemned the serious deterioration of regional peace and security as a result of policies of force, occupation, and aggression, in open violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
The Cuban Ambassador stated that the region is undergoing profound instability, marked by protracted conflicts, occupations and unilateral actions against the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of states. In particular, he condemned the United States' historic and unrestricted political, diplomatic, military and financial support for Israel, which has pursued a criminal and annexationist policy for decades in flagrant violation of the Council's own multiple resolutions on the Palestinian issue.
Cuba condemned Israel’s systematic attacks against civilians and essential infrastructure in the occupied Palestine’s soil, the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid and the use of hunger as a weapon of war, acts which he described as crimes against humanity, apartheid, and genocide, for which Israel must be held accountable by the international community.
Ambassador Soberón Guzmán rejected the repeated violations of the ceasefire by the occupying power, as well as military raids in Cisjordania and the unilateral imposition of the so-called yellow line as the new border between Gaza and Israel, in violation of the Peace Plan and international law. Cuba demanded the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied Palestinian territory.
He also strongly condemned Israel’s attack, against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facilities and staff in East Jerusalem, on 20January 2026, stating that attacks on “humanitarian workers and UN institutions are unacceptable and undermine their vital work, exacerbating the suffering of the civilian population.”
Cuba reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Palestine people to an independent and sovereign State, on the basis the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent and sovereign state, based on the two-state solution, within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return for refugees. In this regard, Cuba urged the immediate admission of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations.
In his statement, the Cuban representative condemned Israel's territorial usurpation in southern Lebanon and its actions against Somali sovereignty. He also warned of the dangers of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights, reiterating that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East would not be possible without a comprehensive and definitive solution to the Palestinian issue, he called on the Security Council to act firmly in defense of the United Nations Charter and to put an end to impunity.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.