UN Chief invokes Article 99 on Gaza

CAIRO – 7 December 2023: UN Chief António Guterres invoked Art.99 of the UN Charter - for the 1st time in his tenure as Secretary-General.

He says in his X “Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared.”

Article 99 of the UN charter stipulates: “The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

The article is seen as a tool given to the UN Chief to hasten taking actions regarding the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

 “We welcome the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to activate Article 99. We also condemn the Israeli incitement against him and consider it as “political terrorism,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.

Chief of the Egyptian State Information Services (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said that Egypt is currently exerting maximum efforts with partners, to reach again a truce between Hamas and Israel as soon as possible, and to extend it further periods, until a comprehensive ceasefire is reached.

He added that Egypt is cooperating with partners to accelerate the delivery of humanitarian and relief aid to the Gaza Strip, and to strive diligently to increase it as it is necessary and urgent for the Palestinians there.

“Egypt permanently opens the Rafah border crossing for individuals and goods, and any obstacles at the crossing come from the Israeli side,” he affirmed.

According to Rashwan, a total of 3,313 trucks of food and relief supplies, fuel, and household gas entered the Gaza Strip since October 21, while 682 injured Palestinians, and 11,067 Egyptians and foreign nationals were evacuated from the Gaza Strip.

A one-week truce between Hamas and Israel was reached by Egypt and Qatar’s brokerage, and resulted in the release of 240 Palestinian women and children imprisoned in Israeli prisons, in exchange for the release of 81 Israelis and 22 people of other nationalities who were detained in the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other Palestinian resistance fighters. In parallel, the truce succeeded in expanding and regularizing the entry of humanitarian and relief aid and fuel to our besieged brothers in the Gaza Strip.

Today, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that its staff received 80 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent through the Rafah crossing, loaded with humanitarian aid.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that the number of Palestinians killed reached more than 16,200 (more than 6,000 children and more than 4,000 women) and more than 42,000 wounded, with more than 70% of the wounded are women and children.