The UN Security Council will convene on Thursday, for the first time since the Hamas massacre of October 7, for a special discussion that will focus on the situation of the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza and on promoting ways to release them.
The discussion was scheduled following prolonged efforts by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, and by joint work with the US delegation to the UN, which initiated the discussion by virtue of being a member of the Security Council.
At the initiative of the Israeli delegation to the UN, Dr. Shoshan Haran, who was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Be’eri and released, and Ayelet Samerano, mother of the Yonatan of blessed memory whose body was kidnapped by UNRWA workers to Gaza, were invited to the discussion.
A document prepared ahead of the discussion, submitted on behalf of the US and prepared in cooperation and coordination with Israel, puts the responsibility for their situation on the Hamas terrorist organization and states that "the holding of the hostages is illegal and undermines global peace and security" and that the consequences for the physical and mental health of the hostages and their families are "catastrophic and inhuman".
The discussion will deal, among other things, with the actions that the UN agencies and the Security Council can take to speed up the release of the hostages and how pressure can be put on Hamas to that end; the discussion will also deal with the resources available to the UN and other international organizations to support the survivors of the massacre and the freed hostages from a health and economic point of view.
In addition, the Security Council will discuss the question of how it can create deterrence against a future incident of kidnapping civilians in a state of war and how to demand accountability from terrorist organizations for such acts.
Ambassador Erdan said that "following an unceasing diplomatic effort, we brought about the Security Council convening for the first time to discuss only the situation of our hostages and promoting ways to apply pressure to release them. I thank the US for agreeing to demand the holding of the discussion. The Council will finally be forced to look in the eyes of hostage Shoshan Haran and the mother of the late Yonatan Samerano and realize that Israel will not stop until the hostages are released and that the correct address for applying pressure is the monstrous terrorist organization Hamas."
