Mr. President, We thank you for convening this resumed Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly (ESS) in response to the requests of the Arab, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Groups and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). 2. My delegation aligns itself with the statements made by the OIC and the NAM. Mr. President, 3. For over 400 days, the world has witnessed the indiscriminate slaughter of the Palestinian population of Gaza. Forty-four thousand, mostly women and children, have been killed. Over one hundred thousand injured. The UN Secretary-General has said: “What we are seeing may well amount to the gravest international crimes”. The heads of fifteen UN and other humanitarian organizations have said: “The situation unfolding in North Gaza is apocalyptic. The entire Palestinian population (there) is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence”. 4. Pakistan welcomes the ceasefire in Lebanon – although Israel continues to violate it at will. But the slaughter continues in Gaza – as do strikes in Syria. And the danger of a wider war continues to loom large over the entire Middle East. 5. While we acknowledge the meditation efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the U.S., we must express our deep dismay that on 20 November, the resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, sponsored by the elected members of the Council, and supported by 14 of its members, could not be adopted due to the veto exercised by one permanent member. There is no rationale that can justify blocking a decision designed to stop the slaughter of helpless Palestinians. 6. The General Assembly must now exercise its responsibility, in accordance with the Charter, to demand an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and the implementation of the several resolutions adopted on this conflict by the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as the adjudication by the International Court of Justice. We also support the establishment of an international accountability mechanism to take cognizance of and punish the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed and determine the reparations for these crimes. Mr. President, 7. Similarly, we must uphold the mandate of UNWRA and condemn Israel’s efforts to halt its operation. UNRWA is the only organization capable of assuring humanitarian assistance and relief to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere. 8. Pakistan, therefore, welcomes the two resolutions to be submitted by the State of Palestine for adoption by this Emergency Session. Mr. President, 9. This Assembly, and the world community, must also look to the future, to the grave consequences of this Israeli war and the measures required to redress these consequences. 10. Israel’s war has demonstrated that aggression and genocide can be committed against some peoples with impunity; indeed with the complicity of those who vocally uphold the “rule of law” and human rights in almost every other geographical and political context. Such impunity has contributed to the on-going destruction of the foundations of the world order, which we created almost 80 years ago. Are the memories of those who fought fascism and racism, of those who suffered the holocaust, so short that they can justify and perpetrate this 21st Century slaughter against the helpless Palestinian people? 11. The genocidal actions of the Israeli war machine should be unacceptable to any individual, society or State which values the principles of the UN Charter, which values peace, which values human life, which cannot countenance the massacre of innocent children and women. 12. We must ask ourselves, what is the reality we are leaving behind in the Middle East? We have today an Israeli leadership which has proclaimed its dark vision of continued slaughter in Gaza, and its continued occupation; of the expulsion and extinction of its population through violence and starvation; of the annexation of the West Bank by aggressive Israeli settlers and soldiers unleashed against unarmed Palestinians; of the outright rejection of the two-State solution and the extinction of the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people. 13. This dark vision will have its repercussions in the Arab and Muslim world. The people of the Islamic world will not forget Israel’s crimes. Popular resistance to Israeli occupation will not end; it will intensify. A peaceful resolution of Middle East conflicts will become more difficult. Mr. President, 14. It is, therefore, imperative for the international community, for this General Assembly, to consider the steps needed to prevent the realization of the dark vision of the Israeli extremists. They must be made to realize that genocide does not enjoy impunity, that aggression and occupation have consequences.