UN Security Council ambassadors visit Rafah crossing as crisis spirals

Ambassadors from the UN Security Council arrived in Egypt on Monday to visit the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. This one-day trip, organised by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, comes after the United States vetoed a council resolution for a ceasefire. The visit, attended by around a dozen ambassadors from countries such as Russia and the United Kingdom, is taking place amidst a worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the situation as a “graveyard.” Notably, the United States, which vetoed the Security Council resolution on Friday, did not send a representative, and France also abstained from participation. An Egyptian foreign ministry official, addressing the envoys during a briefing, emphasised that there is no justification for ignoring the pain and suffering endured by the Palestinian people in Gaza. Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s envoy to the Security Council, said member states were taking part in the trip in their “national and personal capacities”. She said the visit aims to help them “understand not only the suffering and destruction experienced by the people of Gaza but also their hope and their strength”. The diplomats are due receive briefings from UN agencies, Egyptian authorities and health officials on the crisis in Gaza ahead of a trip to the Rafah crossing, the only gateway into the narrow enclave. They are also due to make a stop at a hospital treating Palestinian patients in the Egyptian town of El-Arish near the Gaza border. With inputs from AFP