Gaza: Ceasefire remains fragile - Special Coordinator Briefing | United Nations

“On 11 December, the Israeli cabinet decided to approve or regularize 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank,” a senior UN official told the Security Council, warning that settlement activity this year has reached record levels. Briefing the Council, Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the decision included the settlements of Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank, which had been evacuated by Israel in 2005. He said that “in 2025, settlement advancement reached its highest level since UN tracking began in 2017,” urging Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, and recalling the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of 19 July 2024, which obliges Israel “to cease all new settlement activities, evacuate settlers, and end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory promptly.” Alakbarov also raised concerns over developments in East Jerusalem, telling Council members that “on 8 December, Israeli authorities forcibly entered the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem, seizing property and replacing the UN flag with an Israeli flag.” He recalled that the Secretary-General strongly condemned these actions and emphasized that the “compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference.” Turning to the humanitarian situation, Alakbarov said UN winterization efforts were underway, “distributing tents, blankets and other essential supplies, reaching people where they are.” However, he warned that “conditions remain dire, and the risk of hypothermia is increasing with the onset of winter weather,” confirming that the first hypothermia-related death of a two-week-old newborn boy from Khan Younis, was confirmed earlier today.


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