Middle East & North Africa
Gaza ceasefire “exists in name only” along the Yellow Line, UN envoy Alakbarov tells the Security Council
After visiting Gaza on 11 and 12 October, the UN's Ramiz Alakbarov told the Security Council that the ceasefire is fragile for people near the Yellow Line, citing about 1,500 deaths since it began according to Gaza's health ministry.
The UN’s Acting Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, told the Security Council on 15 October that the ceasefire in Gaza “exists in name only” for Palestinians living along the Yellow Line, after he visited the territory on 11 and 12 October.
Citing Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Alakbarov said Israeli military operations have caused about 1,500 Palestinian deaths since the ceasefire took effect, including more than 320 children and 140 women. The figure is the Gaza health authorities’ count, relayed by the UN official, and was not independently verified in the briefing.
What he saw in Gaza
Alakbarov described the situation of about 950 households in Shuja’iyya who live in constant fear. Women there told him they had not gone 40 consecutive minutes without shooting over their land in a year, he said. Families, he added, live in worn-out tents, crowded displacement sites and damaged buildings, without reliable water or sanitation, and “most of Gaza still lives in darkness”, with particular protection risks for women and girls.
West Bank and the implementation gap
On the West Bank, the envoy said the situation is “at boiling point”. Palestinians face constant threats to their safety and livelihoods, he said, and communities are being pushed into increasingly fragmented areas, which he described as eroding the territorial basis of a future Palestinian State.
He also pointed to what he called “continued paralysis” in implementing Security Council resolution 2803 (2025), which endorsed the US-brokered Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict and welcomed the Board of Peace. His central message was that the ceasefire must become the foundation for recovery and a durable political settlement, and that a return to war must be avoided.
Positions of the parties and members
Palestine’s deputy permanent observer, Majed Bamya, told the open debate that 22,000 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza over three years and that one Palestinian child is still killed daily, according to his statement. He accused Israel of obstructing the Board of Peace.
Israel’s representative said the Council has not designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, that Hamas must disarm and is not implementing the 20-point plan, and that the ideology behind the 7 October 2023 attacks remains alive. The United States urged all actors to align behind one plan and said Hamas must decommission its weapons. Israel’s and the United States’ positions are as stated to the Council and were not verified.
The European Union’s Stavros Lambrinidis called for immediate humanitarian access throughout Gaza, including through the Cyprus Maritime Corridor, and for the crossings to reopen. Qatar urged implementation of resolution 2817 (2026) on freedom of navigation. The British position at the same debate is covered in UK at the Security Council: two-state solution “under serious threat”, with calls on Israel over Gaza aid and E1 and on Hamas to disarm.
The meeting was the 10243rd of the Council. The Gaza ceasefire has been in place since 8 October 2025, according to the UN press service summary of the session.