New York, November 6th, 2023.- Cuba today extended its deepest condolences for the members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) who have lost their lives in the indiscriminate bombardment carried out by Israel against the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza in recent days.
During his speech in the debate of the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly, Ambassador Yusnier Romero Puentes, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba, repudiated the murders of innocent people as a result of the current escalation, which attacks with viciousness, without distinction of ethnicity, origin, nationality or religious faith.
"Nothing can justify the serious violations of international humanitarian law that are being committed against Gaza," he said.
Romero Puentes said that Israel violates each and every one of the UN resolutions and its obligations as an occupying power, fully confident that thee paralysis of the Security Council will ensure its continued evasion of responsibility.
In this context, he stressed that, although available, humanitarian assistance remains insufficient to meet the basic needs of the affected population, UNRWA staff working in Gaza today are hosting some 690,000 internally displaced persons, who are sheltering in 149 facilities across the Strip.
The Cuban diplomat reiterated that a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict inexorably requires the real exercise of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to build their own independent and sovereign State within the pre-1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem, as well as the right of return of refugees.
"There is no other effective way to stop this spiral of violence once and for all, save human lives and chart a viable course for peace," he said.
Before concluding, the Cuban diplomat reiterated Cuba's firm support and solidarity for the just cause of the Palestinian people, as well as the need to redouble efforts to resolve the plight of its refugees, in accordance with the norms and principles of international law and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.
Cuban Permanent Mission to the United Nations