UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has called for the full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire and strongly condemned what it described as Israel’s continued violations and illegal actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Delivering a statement at the United Nations Security Council briefing on “the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question,” Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, said the Council was meeting at a “critical juncture.”
He noted that intensified diplomatic efforts were underway to consolidate the ceasefire, alleviate Palestinian suffering, and advance implementation of the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict endorsed by Security Council resolution 2803. However, he warned that Israel’s continued ceasefire violations, annexation attempts and illegal actions across the Occupied Palestinian Territories were undermining these efforts and threatening prospects for a just and lasting peace.
Dar said Pakistan remained fully engaged in diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a permanent cessation of hostilities and a just resolution of the conflict. He expressed appreciation for peace efforts led by US President Donald Trump, and said Pakistan was working closely within a group of eight Arab and Islamic countries — Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan and Türkiye.
He described Israel’s recent decisions to expand control over the West Bank as “gravely disturbing.” Referring to joint statements issued on 7 and 17 February by the foreign ministers of the eight countries, Dar said they had condemned measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrenching settlement activity, designating lands as “state land,” and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank.
He said these measures were null and void and constituted clear violations of international law and international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention. They also violated relevant Security Council resolutions, foremost among them Resolution 2334, as well as the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.
The group also strongly condemned what it described as Israel’s repeated violations of the Gaza ceasefire, which it said had resulted in the killing and injury of more than a thousand Palestinians.
Dar said that since the ceasefire, hundreds of Palestinians had been killed and UN premises, including UNRWA facilities, had been attacked. He added that restrictions on humanitarian operations and pressure on international humanitarian organizations continued to impede assistance, which had yet to reach the required scale.
He stressed that full and faithful implementation of resolution 2803 was essential, including full respect for the ceasefire with a view to a permanent cessation of hostilities. He called for safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian assistance, and said recovery and reconstruction must begin without annexation, forced displacement or alteration of the territorial unity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
He also called for an immediate end to illegal settlement activity, settler violence, and attempts to alter the demographic, legal or historical character of the occupied territory, including holy sites.
Emphasizing the need for a credible, irreversible and time-bound political horizon, Dar reiterated support for Palestinian statehood in accordance with international legitimacy and relevant UN resolutions. He said this should result in an independent, sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, and highlighted the central role of the Palestinian Authority.
Dar announced that Pakistan, as part of the group of eight Arab and Islamic countries, had joined the Board of Peace under resolution 2803 and would participate in its inaugural meeting, with the objective of reinforcing ongoing diplomatic efforts.
He reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and said the country was ready to contribute to all diplomatic initiatives, including President Trump’s Peace Plan, the Board of Peace, the High-Level Conference on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine, and the Global Alliance for the Two-State Solution.
“There can be no durable peace without justice, no stability without accountability, and no sustainable solution without the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” he said.
