Gaza ceasefire

TWO months after Hamas attacked Israel, triggering a fierce retaliation, UN chief Antonio Guterres has invoked the rarely used Article 99 of the United Nations Charter to appeal to the Security Council to facilitate a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The Article states that ‘the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.’ Guterres has warned that the situation in Gaza is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with ‘potentially irreversible implications’ for Palestinians as well as for peace and security in the region.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 16,000 people have lost their lives in Israeli military action during the ongoing war. About 1,200 Israelis were killed when Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups carried out lethal strikes on October 7. Around 240 people had been taken hostage, of whom more than half are still in captivity. A Qatar-brokered truce, which saw Hamas release dozens of hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and Israel allowing humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza, had raised hopes of a de-escalation and an early end to the war. However, the truce lasted just a week and Israel has intensified its attacks since then.

Even as Qatar has claimed that it is making efforts to bring about a comprehensive ceasefire, the Security Council needs to pay heed to the UN Secretary-General’s fervent plea to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. The UN has been under fire for its failure to prevent the situation from spinning out of control. It remains to be seen whether Guterres’ invocation of Article 99 — which was last mentioned in a report by then UN chief U Thant amid the India-Pakistan war of 1971 — will make any visible difference of the ground.