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Speaking at a Security Council meeting on the "situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue", held at the request of Algeria and Slovenia, Ambassador Bendjama recalled that UN Security Council resolutions clearly prohibit starvation as a method of war, saying: "We are witnessing a war crime in Gaza and this Council must "act decisively to preserve what remains of its credibility, it is time to impose a ceasefire in Gaza".

He stressed that the Zionist entity "seeks to kill slowly the Palestinians in Gaza, through famine, through starvation and tightened blockades while restricting the humanitarian aid", adding that "according to the figures of the United Nations, only 52 trucks entered Gaza per day, they were more than 500 before October last year, and these 52 trucks are the lowest rate since last November, meanwhile "96% of the population in Gaza faces crises and extreme levels of food insecurity... This is a deliberate act," he said.

“Amidst this catastrophe, the occupier has not spared humanitarian personnel. 222 UNRWA staff members have been killed while two-thirds of UNRWA premises have been destroyed or damaged," he lamented, adding that "UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian action, particularly in Gaza, and for years, the Zionist authorities have made clear its desire and will to dismantle UNRWA, because it symbolizes the Palestinian refugees and their inalienable rights... We reiterate that their rights are not subject to the statutes of limitations, and are guarantee by the international law."

Bendjama also underlined that the use of military force "will not bring security and stability", that the occupation "will not last", and that "security in the Middle East can only be reached through achieving the Palestinian people’s rights and ending the occupation of Arab lands (...). The Security Council should endeavour to make this goal a reality, and if we do not act now, the Middle East will be engulfed an unprecedented war."

The Algerian diplomat presented figures revealing "the terrifying consequences" of the Zionist war machine that "spares no one in Gaza, and which is now spreading its barbarity in Lebanon,” noting that "massacres and killings have become a tragic reality in Gaza".

He reported over 42,000 martyrs, 60 percent of whom are women and children, and nearly 100,000 wounded, some of them handicap for their whole life, saying he was shocked that 6 percent of Ghaza's population has been martyred or wounded in the last year alone.

Bendjama further said that the Zionist occupation army has exterminated more than 900 families in the enclave, erasing them entirely  from the civil registry, and that at least 17,000 children are now unaccompanied and definitely separated from their parents, in addition to the destruction of 60% of buildings and basic infrastructure, indicating that "Gaza city now resembles to a ghost town, apocalyptic  scene that are horrifyingly real.”

What the Zionist occupation army is doing "is not a military operation against Palestinian military factions or against Palestinian terrorists, but a war against the Palestinian people themselves," he said, insisting that "as the situation in the West Bank is not better, with continuing illegal settlement activity, and unprecedented annexation of Palestinian land."

After explaining that last year had been the deadliest since the second intifadha, he claimed that the Zionist occupier’s aim is "clear," which is to push the Palestinians out of their homeland, and not to leave any Palestinians west of the Jordan.

He also recalled the threats made on Tuesday by the Zionist army to forcibly remove patients, displace persons  and medical teams from the "Al-Awda", "Kamal Adwan" and "Indonesian" hospitals, stressing that this threat comes in the context of the brutal military campaign against the Palestinian people in northern Gaza.

This act is "a blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and a criminal attempt to implement the displacement plan", denounced the Algerian ambassador to the UN, questioning whether the Geneva Convention allows humanitarian and medical teams to be treated in such a way.

Bendjama castigated the silence of the international community in the face of the crimes of the Zionist entity, saying that "this silence has become more than mere complicity... it is now an active participation in these crimes".

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