UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has challenged the UN Security Council during a monthly briefing on the Middle East, questioning how Palestinian civilians continue to be killed and Israeli military strikes persist if a ceasefire is supposedly in effect.

“If the ceasefire is holding — as we have been told — then how are strikes continuing and civilians being killed?”, asked Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, while underscoring that a truce “was the first, most essential step” of the US 15-point peace plan for Gaza.

 “Despite the clear position of this Council and repeated calls for their cessation, Israel’s illegal settlement activities continue unabated,” he told the 15-member Council.

The advancement of the so-called E1 settlement project, which would effectively sever the northern and southern part of the West Bank, is particularly alarming , and a  “dangerous escalation”, the Pakistani envoy said.

“Beyond threatening the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state, the project places thousands of Palestinians at risk of forcible displacement.”

Highlighting that settler violence has also reached alarming levels, the Pakistani envoy said, noting that the UN recorded approximately 190 attacks per month in early 2026, which is “unacceptable and warrants urgent action”.

Ambassador Asim Ahmad  said that Israel’s forcible entry Tuesday into the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Kalandia Training Centre in occupied East Jerusalem is “particularly troubling”.

And he called out the continued withholding of over $6 billion in Palestinian clearance revenue, which is undermining the Palestinian Authority’s ability to provide essential services.  “These revenue must be released without delay,” he said.

At the same time, the Pakistani envoy said notable efforts have been undertaken to advance peace and take the process, envisaged in the Board of Peace, forward.

However, he pointed out that despite the mediation efforts by the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye, Israel’s continued military escalations and rejection of the roadmap threaten to derail this diplomatic process and undermine the prospects for peace.

Israel, the occupying power, must immediately halt all unlawful measures aimed at altering the legal, geographic and demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said.

 The Gaza Peace Plan and UN Security Council Resolution 2803 must be implemented fully and in good faith, starting with full enforcement of the ceasefire, and its proper verification, he said.

He also called for ensuring accountability for all violations of international law and international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including war crimes and other grave violations.

“Illegal occupation that must be vacated, in the interest of durable peace and stability in the region, the shared objective of this Council and the international community.”

Pakistan, he said, stand with the Palestinian people  in their legitimate struggle for dignity, justice and self-determination.

“The only viable path to peace for all people in the region is a just, comprehensive peace based on UN Security Council resolutions and international legitimacy, with the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian State on the pre-1967 borders, with Al Quds al Sharif as its capital.”

Opening the debate, UN Acting Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov told the Council that conditions in Gaza remain dire despite a nearly year-old ceasefire as he reported renewed Israeli airstrikes on 12 August after a one-week lull; 100 Palestinian deaths and over 400 injuries during the reporting period; and continued settler attacks in the West Bank.

 Alakbarav and High Representative for Gazan on the Board of Peace Nickolay Mladenov urged full implementation of the 15-point Roadmap and Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, which envisions Hamas’ disarmament, Israeli military withdrawal, an international stabilization force and transitional Palestinian governance.

Athena Rayburn, Executive Director of the Association of International Development Agencies, said reported improvements in aid negate the fact that 2 million Palestinians remain trapped and suffering severely.

While Israel accused Hamas of holding up the peace process; Palestine said Israel is clearly determined to destroy the Palestinian State.