Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Observer Mission's ambassador to the United Nations, broke down and began to cry in an overwhelming display of anguish over the genocide suffered by the Palestinian population.
By: Alfredo García Almeida, Journalist and international analyst, reporting from Mérida, Yucatán.
“The children are dying of hunger. The images of mothers embracing their motionless bodies, stroking their hair, speaking to them, apologizing—it's unbearable! How can anyone tolerate this horror?” This was the desperate cry of Riyad Mansour, ambassador of the Palestinian Observer Mission to the United Nations, moments before the venerable elder broke down and began to cry in an overwhelming scene of anguish over the genocide suffered by the Palestinian population. His reaction highlighted the impunity of Israel’s “State Terrorism” policy, in contrast to the moral and military powerlessness of the United Nations.
However, famine in Gaza is not the only issue—it is accompanied by sporadic Israeli bombings. On Friday evening, eight Palestinian civilians lost their lives, and dozens more were injured due to a series of airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in various locations across the Gaza Strip. Israeli attacks have killed 54,321 Palestinians and injured 123,770, according to the latest report from the enclave’s health authorities, which is under the control of the Islamist movement Hamas. In the past 24 hours alone, 72 more deaths and 278 injuries were confirmed.
The ongoing extermination of Palestinians in Gaza was accompanied by Israel’s announcement of 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are widely considered illegal under international law. Israeli Defense Minister stated that the measure “prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel,” while the Palestinian presidency called it a “dangerous escalation.” The Israeli anti-settlement organization Peace Now described it as “the most extensive measure of its kind in over 30 years” and warned that it would “drastically transform the West Bank and further entrench the occupation.”
Since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel has built approximately 160 settlements housing around 700,000 Jewish residents—on land that Palestinians claim, along with Gaza, for their future state. It is estimated that 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. However, settlement expansion has increased dramatically since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022, leading a right-wing pro-colonial coalition.
Last Thursday, Minister Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich, an ultranationalist settler who oversees planning in the West Bank, officially confirmed the approval of 22 new settlements, along with the renewal of settlements in northern West Bank and the reinforcement of Israel’s eastern axis.
This development is a setback for efforts to revive the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—the internationally approved peace formula that would allow for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. A Franco-Saudi summit on the issue is scheduled for next month at the United Nations headquarters.
