Palestinian envoy to UN invites Security Council to visit ‘devastated Gaza Strip'

Palestine's UN envoy invited UN Security Council members Thursday to visit the Gaza Strip to "witness firsthand" atrocities committed against Palestinian children by Israeli forces.

"With the ceasefire, which should become permanent, it may be time for the Security Council to visit the devastated Gaza Strip to witness firsthand what befell our people and our children, owing to what Israel has perpetrated," Riyad Mansour told the Council session on children of Gaza.

Saying that Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity "throughout 15 months of genocide and 17 years of an unjust blockade," Mansour said the Council members should visit the Gaza Strip to see the results of "double standards and immunity, the lack of accountability enjoyed by Israel as an occupying power."

He expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza and pledged to be their "voice until this criminal Israeli occupation of our people and our land comes to an end."

He also pledged the Palestinian Authority's readiness to assume the necessary responsibilities in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.

Mansour stressed the need to call on Israel to release "thousands of doctors, journalists and academics" detained from Gaza in order to facilitate its recovery.

Calling for the Israeli army to remain on the UN's "list of abusers of the rights of children" in armed conflicts until the occupation ends, he further urged all countries to stop arms shipments to Israel.

"We cannot accept that the fate of our children will be either a grave in the Gaza Strip or a detention center in the West Bank or a displacement camp in East Jerusalem," he said.