UN official warns Gaza recovery ‘far too slow’ as occupied West Bank escalation risk grows

A senior UN official warned Tuesday that Gaza’s recovery remains “far too slow” and that worsening violence in the occupied West Bank risks wider escalation across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Anadolu reports.

“I am briefing you today as the situation in the West Bank is rapidly deteriorating, as we witnessed in the last few days,” Ramiz Alakbarov, UN deputy special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the UN Security Council.

Alakbarov warned that a wider escalation was “increasingly likely” unless immediate steps were taken to reverse the current course.

Recalling his recent visit to the Gaza Strip, he said humanitarian conditions had “improved somewhat, but progress is far too slow.”

He said recent advances in clearing solid waste and coordinating the entry of sanitation supplies were “relevant” but “highly insufficient” given the scale of needs.

Alakbarov said he witnessed “immense hardship amid continued displacement, overcrowded living conditions, widespread destruction, and near-daily casualties caused by ongoing Israeli military operations,” while also seeing Palestinians “taking courageous steps against all odds to start rebuilding their lives.”

“Human dignity should not be conditional,” he said, adding that community resilience could not replace large-scale deliveries of essential materials, including those Israel classifies as “dual-use,” or the political will needed to put Gaza on a genuine path to recovery.

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He said Gaza remains confined to roughly one-third of its territory as Israeli military operations and airstrikes continue, warning that the enclave “remains a dangerous place for the UN to operate and deliver assistance.”

Turning to the occupied West Bank, Alakbarov said escalating violence over the past week had caused civilian casualties, displacement, property damage and “growing insecurity,” citing persistent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian communities, homes, places of worship and infrastructure.

“I urge Israel to take immediate and effective measures to prevent settler violence, protect Palestinian communities, and ensure that all perpetrators are held accountable,” he said.

Alakbarov said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on July 14 that the Israeli Security Cabinet had allocated 1.3 billion shekels for temporary housing units in dozens of new settlements in the occupied West Bank before formal approval.

He reiterated that “all settlements are illegal under international law.”

Alakbarov also expressed concern over the “repeated unauthorized entry of Israeli forces and officials into the UNRWA Kalandia Training Centre in East Jerusalem” during class hours, stressing that UN premises “are inviolable and immune from any form of interference.”

He warned that the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal situation “remains critical” as Israel continues withholding clearance revenues, preventing it from paying full civil servant salaries and providing services including education and health care.

Referring to the June 26 Trilateral Framework between the US, Israel and Lebanon as “a milestone,” Alakbarov said Gaza’s reconstruction “cannot be sustained in the absence of a political process” and urged the UN Security Council to ensure its resolutions are translated into meaningful action on the ground.

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