As the High-Level Conference on Palestine opens on Monday in New York, international officials are calling for urgent action to end Israel’s military operations in Gaza and its continued occupation of Palestinian territory. With civilian suffering at unprecedented levels, there is growing pressure on governments to move beyond statements and apply real leverage. Lest they risk complicity in what some warn may amount to international crimes.

Since the conflict escalated in October, Gaza has descended into catastrophe. Over 200,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed or injured, aid delivery systems have all but collapsed, and daily life has become, in the words of one official, “a dystopian landscape.” Starvation and displacement are widespread, and the prospect of a two-state solution grows ever more remote.

The occupied West Bank is also seeing intensified violence, home demolitions, and deepening settlement expansion, prompting accusations of de facto annexation. While Hamas’s October 7th attacks are widely condemned, so too is the scale of Israel’s response, raising alarms about potential war crimes and breaches of international law.

Officials are demanding a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and detainees, full humanitarian access, and a renewed commitment to Palestinian statehood built on human rights and justice. The world, they say, will judge this conference by its outcomes, not its promises.

Source: UN