UN Security Council’s Gaza ceasefire failure 'total disappointment'

Türkiye's deputy foreign minister has called the United Nations Security Council’s failure to pass a resolution on a ceasefire in Palestine's besieged Gaza a "total disappointment."

"Now, every five minutes a Palestinian is killed. Children and women make up 70 percent of those murdered since October 7. This is a shame on the international community," Yasin Ekrem Serim said at a meeting on the human rights situation in Gaza at the UN's Geneva office.

Serim stressed that failure to end the "bloodshed" undermines the credibility of the rules-based international system. "What is needed is not temporary pauses but an immediate and durable ceasefire," he said.

He added that a lasting peace in the Middle East cannot be possible without a solution based on the two-state vision with the state of Palestine based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Nothing that the peace process needs to restart once hostilities end, he underlined that this time a guarantee mechanism for monitoring should be established to enforce the obligations of parties when needed.

"Or else, what is signed up remains in papers," he said.

Serim noted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's words where he underlined the readiness of Türkiye to "shoulder any responsibility to prevent further bloodshed, destruction, and tears."

Global 'sense of responsibility'

In a previous event called, The Future of Human Rights and Peace and Security, Serim underlined that the world recently feels "an increased sense of responsibility" for standing against human rights violations and establishing lasting peace and stability.

"At the center of this responsibility lies the urgent need to address the terrible situation in Gaza, where the pursuit of human rights and peace faces immense challenges," he said.

He stressed that the ongoing "inhumane attacks" in Gaza strike "a major blow, not only to the basic rights of the Palestinian people but also to the common values of all humanity."

Israel has bombarded Gaza from the air and land, imposed a siege and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7.

At least 18,412 Palestinians have since been killed and 50,100 injured in the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.