Ban Ki-Moon: "Nothing Could Have Prepared Me For What I Witnessed In Gaza."

Addressing the Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said "nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed in Gaza." Ban said that he saw "mile after mile of wholesale destruction" and heard "heart-wrenching accounts of suffering and pain" from survivors of an attack on a UN run school.

The Secretary General said that "more than 100,000 residents of Gaza remain homeless with over 50,000 still sheltering in UNRWA school buildings. Many still lack access to the municipal water network. Blackouts of up to 18 hours per day are common. Meanwhile winter is approaching."

He urged the international community "to move quickly to deliver much needed assistance."

Ban told the Council that the donor conference which took place last week in Cairo, Egypt, surpassed expectations with pledges from some 50 countries amounting to $5.4 billion. He noted that $414 million is immediately needed for humanitarian relief, $1.2 billion for early recovery needs and $2.4 billion for reconstruction efforts.

The Secretary General said "I fully understand the security threat to Israel from rockets above and tunnels below. At the same time, the scale of the destruction in Gaza has left deep questions about proportionality and the need for accountability."

He said he looked forward to a thorough investigation by the Israeli Defence Forces and is moving forward with an independent Board of Inquiry to look into the most serious cases, included instances in which weaponry was found on UN premises.
Ban said "the cycle of build and destroy must end. The international community cannot be expected to continually pick up the pieces of another war and then pick up the bill."

He reiterated his call for the Cairo International Conference on Palestine to be "the last Gaza reconstruction conference."

Palestinian Ambassador told the Council that "the time is past due to acknowledge that Israel, the occupying Power, rejects peace and is deliberately destroying the two-State solution and undermining every effort to realize it."

Mansour said this was not "the Palestinian narrative; this is the reality confirmed over and over by the actions of the Israeli Government and the words of its representatives at the highest levels."

For his part, Israeli Ambassador David Roet said "many in the international community are quick to denounce Israel's actions, but are blind to one simple fact - If Hamas is allowed to acquire more weapons, it will use them. We have been at this crossroads before. Over the years, Hamas has stolen hundreds of millions of aid dollars intended for development to build its military capabilities and terror infrastructure. This time must be different."

516 Palestinian children are confirmed killed during the 50 day war. The cumulative death toll among Palestinians is at least 2,186, including 283 women, according to the continued collection of preliminary data by the Protection Cluster from various sources. It is reported that the cumulative Israeli fatality toll is 71, of whom 66 were soldiers and one civilian fatality was a child.

8 UNRWA school buildings continue to serve as Collective Centres for approximately 42,506 internally displaced persons (IDPs).

SHOTLIST:
21 OCTOBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY

Exterior United Nations headquarters

Security Council
VAR of Ban Ki-moon's statements
Delegates
Security Council

SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"Nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed in Gaza. I saw mile after mile of wholesale destruction. I visited a United Nations school in the Jabalia refugee camp which was shelled during the hostilities. Civilians had sought protection under the UN flag. Parents and children shared heart-wrenching accounts of suffering and pain."

SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"More than 100,000 residents of Gaza remain homeless with over 50,000 still sheltering in UNRWA school buildings. Many still lack access to the municipal water network. Blackouts of up to 18 hours per day are common. Meanwhile winter is approaching. I urge the international community to move quickly to deliver much needed assistance."

SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"I fully understand the security threat to Israel from rockets above and tunnels below. At the same time, the scale of the destruction in Gaza has left deep questions about proportionality and the need for accountability."

SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"The cycle of build and destroy must end. The international community cannot be expected to continually pick up the pieces of another war and then pick up the bill. As I said in Cairo, let this be the last Gaza reconstruction conference."

SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad H. Mansour, Ambassador and Permanent Observer to the State of Palestine to the United Nations:
"The time is past due to acknowledge that Israel, the occupying Power, rejects peace and is deliberately destroying the two-State solution and undermining every effort to realize it. This is not the Palestinian narrative; this is the reality confirmed over and over by the actions of the Israeli Government and the words of its representatives at the highest levels."

SOUNDBITE (English) David Roet, Deputy Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations:
"Many in the international community are quick to denounce Israel's actions, but are blind to one simple fact - If Hamas is allowed to acquire more weapons, it will use them. We have been at this crossroads before. Over the years, Hamas has stolen hundreds of millions of aid dollars intended for development to build its military capabilities and terror infrastructure. This time must be different."

DURATION: 03:10