Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio. Welcome to Policy and Writes, Go Show, god Goltment Policy, Human.
Joy plusso to.
Sam was a professor public Affairs and director at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at is Umbelazim University. Joining us from Istanbul the Salad.
Thanks so much for your time.
Mister Arrando's reporting out of the US that suggests that several Trump officials are concerned that the Nataiahu and his administration may abandon this is fire I deal. We know the Vice President of the US heading back to Israel. Wikoff and Kushner already there. To what extent are they there to simply pressure that's a.
Level Well, it's a real concern for the Americans as well as to the whole world that what Matania wants is to find a way has been itching to go back.
To the war, to the genocide, but the Americans team to keep him in link. Let's also are trying to take stock of what's going in here. Right before Trent unveiled his plan in September twenty field, the whole world was talking about the establishment of the Beast in the state being September eleventh, twentifthe all the way up to the twenty third, everybody are somewhat I seen the state. Bakers of the countries of.
The world has already recognized the Persilian state.
All but five percent of the world two countries actually oppose it.
So the whole conversation has been chosen for Trump's plant.
That's a great division tactic to go back now and talk about the genocide.
If there has his way, Obviously it's going to be a huge setback.
That everybody would be talking about the inevitability of the Parsilian state.
This whole process, this true plant is trying to delay as much as possible the emergence of the Pasilian state.
What expectations, however, do you have about how.
The ceasefire will progress, because the expectation is that negotiations are going to have to start at some point.
Regarding phase two.
The problem with Peas two is that, according to her message response to Trump, they could actually be shape the release of the captives. They can be shape some certain items like how much a those in things the right of that sort. They already give up all their cards. In other words, whatever leverage they have, which was the living hostages as well as the dead ones. Now they are at fifteen bodies left. The whole world is of
about fifteen bodies. What thousands public pens of thousands of Postinians bodies have not even been recovered since the genocide started two years ago. This just shows the insanity of the world heady equipment needed to do that.
But assuming they do return the bodies, then Hannas has lost its leverage, and Hannas says, in the second phase of the negotiations, these decisions about the disarmory, about the entrance of international force, about the day after all these things have too been decided by the collective Pedestinian will, not just the faction of two and therefore we're.
Going to have real difficulty in trying to get any kind of disarmament or decommissioning because Hamas would be totally opposed to it. But more importantly, the negotiating team does not have them in date and of the shaate these items.
So what does this tell us then, or what does it tell you about how this is going to actually play out on the grounds, and what are the likely scenarios than going forward?
We have very risky scenarios right now, you know, in terms of the Israelis. They want to come back and try to have or declare what they call total or absolute victory. I don't think the Americans would allow them. The Americans are trying to get out of this mess by trying to impose some sort of a political settlement that will achieve Israeli objectives to political means rather than military means that.
They haven't been able to do.
And I think that's going to be really tricky. It's going to be very difficult. It depends on the mediators and how forceful they will be with the is what it is. I believe we have probably seen the end of the genocide. That's going to be a stalemate. That's going to be a very tense situation. They will be killing pedestinians. So far over pedescinas have been killed since the announcement of the seas fire. We're talking about the violations of the Israeli since that came into effect about
ten eleven days ago. They haven't been allowing the aid that they were promised, even though they got all the living captures back. And also we're going to have real difficulty in trying to rehabilitate, to reconstruct Gaza. All that tells us that they're going to be very difficult times ahead.
When you say that the Israelis are going to try to achieve their objectives politically, what are these objectives today? And have they changed from two years ago?
Literally? But not much that the Israelis actually wanted. What to ethnically cleans Gaz, try to destroy Gaza to the point that they can force the Palestinians to leave. That has not been achieved. But now they're trying to also make sure that Gaza is not going to be ruled by any kind of a hostile forces. A massage a ready said, it's not going to rule Gaza. But they also want to demilitarize Gaza, and that's not going to happen because the people theyre don't feel safe in any way,
shape or form. They do remember what happened to the sub Branchertila camps back in nineteen eighty two, when the fighters left and massacres were committed a few days later, thousands of people were killed. Also, we remember what happened in Sepernitza in nineteen ninety five when in Brasia the people were disarmed and then eight thousand people were massacred by the Serbs in nineteen ninety five. So all these things, all these examples tell the people that any kind of
disarmament would be suicidal. And therefore what the Israelis want to do is to do through military means. But they couldn't have already achieved for the Americans know that this is going to be a real problem, not just for the objectives in the Middle East, but also for the Israeli's reputation and image throughout the world, which has tanked.
Basically, Okay, we'll leave it there a seminari, welcome head to policy and rights. Here in Depictions of media Radio, I'm your host Michael Cloggs, And well, there was a cease fire. Well, we hope that the ceasefire actually will
be maintained. We're going to remain positive about this. In some of the words that jd Vance, which you're going to hear in a little bit, he said that the media and me included, are already jumping on the fact that the ceasefires over, that there were flare ups as of Sunday, and which Saul dozens of killed by Israeli
strikes across the strip. Of course, Israel was also claiming, according to the Globe of Mail, that uh the Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement and thus the beginning of strikes again. In the past couple of days, since the United States survived on the scene, UH jd Vance and other diplomats, the it has come back down again. But as you heard from already heard from a clip from Al Jazeera as an expert is saying that there's reasons for all
the tensions being there. There's are reasons why the Palestinian people or or the Hamas more specifically, still have have tensions, and why there hasn't been a complete disarmament of the area, that it hasn't been completely demilitarized, and that they're still weapons in place in Gaza. The expert from Al Jazeera is saying that maybe that would be absolute suicide to completely disarm and then allow the Israeli forced us to
just completely overrun everything again. So what is actually happening is jd Vance and his team totally accurate that hey, we have everything under control and that the occasional flairup is going to happen. We just have to keep the general peace. There's a lot going on. There's also a lot of history there Again, we had to keep keep in mind that we're not just going to look back to the Zionist movement that actually got the United Nations to help form a Jewish state in Palestine called Israel.
That it wasn't that originally when this whole process started, that the Palestinian people were very warm and welcoming to uh their European brothers who had been through a massacre and a holocaust that World War two have brought with them with the their Reich trying to commit a genocide themselves and eliminate the European Jewish people. That that that the Palestinian people felt that it was their responsibility to help these people find a new home, and it was
done through through the United Nations. And it wasn't just that at that moment that Palestine had had been had had European Jewish people moving in. It had been a process over over one hundred years. They to date, I should say to date, over one hundred years of of what is happening has been this cauldron of boiling hatred against group of people. JD. Vance's is going to call the Hamas a terrorist group. And if you were to
ask some of the people in the Arabic world. They would say that the Hamas are freedom fighters trying to take a stance against colonialism and Israel, trying to settle areas that were agreed that should remained with the Palestinian people, and now they want to take it all back, and that they're using military force to do so. There's a lot of history that isn't going to be solved in just a couple of days, and that compounding that that we've just seen two years of intense fighting and mass
destruction of the Gaza Strip. So we can't expect, as jd. Vance is right, we can't expect this just to be happened overnight and that they're just going to be peace. We can't expect that. But what we can't expect is a fair shake for all those people who are involved, the Hamas, the Israeli people, and the innocent civilians that are caught between the two fighting factions. That part of the negotiations. Maybe we should be recognizing the Hamas as
a legitimate government and not a group of terrorists. That maybe they have a legitimate voice that should be heard in this area, and we need to stop negating them saying that in jd Vance's open statements, saying that you have the legitimate Israeli government and you have a terrorist group with civilians caught in the middle, delegitimizes the Hamas as a as a possible government faction, and maybe that's
a mistake. So there are going to be pockets of fighting until everybody gets a word that the ceasefire is out there, And we can't just simply be hot headed and jump to arms every time a gun gunshot goes off. These people have been fighting for two years and under very uh intense conditions, so we have to be patient and allow things to pull off, and they will. They're
only gonna pull off slowly. There's not a lot they can be done to quicken the pace up, but a lot of patience needs to be given to both sides, of with the Israeli forces and of course the the Hamas. So why don't we start when we're gonna start w uh now by listening to statements made in the United Nations press room, and then we'll hear some other events uh and a press conference held by H. H. J. D Vance and Steve Woodkoff and Jerry Kushner.
All right, good afternoon. Thank you for your patience, thank you for your presence. Just thank you in general.
Uh.
In a short while we will be joined by our guests from UN Women, Nyarana zaib z Vanda, who is a Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support on You AND's Coordination at UN Women, and Sarah Hendricks, a Director of Program Policy and Into Governmental Division, also at UN Women. They'll be here to brief you on the Secretary of General's Report on Women and Security as well as the
twenty fifth anniversary of Security Council Resolution thirteen twenty five. Tomorrow, we will have another guest, and that will be Luke David Irving, the Chief of the UN Mine Action Service in the Occupied Palacian Territory. He will be briefing you virtually from Jerusalem to discuss the situation with unexploded ordinances
in Gaza. Some travel to share with you. On Wednesday morning, the Secretary General will arrive in Geneva to participate in a special session of the World Meteorological Congress commemorating the seventy fifth anniversary of the World Meteorological Organization. The session will spotlight the early warnings for all Initiative, where the Secretary General is expected to reiterate his urgent call for
universal access to life saving alert systems. Immediately following this event, he will proceed to the palid Nacion to attend the sixteenth session of the UN Conference of Trade and Development. Following the Sessionara General will be joined by Carlos Querpo, Spain's Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, and they will
officially launch the Severe Forum on Debt. The form is a key milestone in advancing the commitments May Juring the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, which took place in Sevilla in Spain. On Thursday, the Secretary General will head to Hanoi to participate in a high level event marking the opening for signature of the UN Convention against Cybercrime. The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly in December
of last year. The landmark treaty is the first comprehensive global framework to address cybercrime, offering states a robust set of tools for prevention and enforcement. The Convention will enter into force ninety days after the deposit of the fortieth Instruments of Ratification. While in Vietnam, the Secretary gener will
also hold bilateral meetings with senior Vietnamese officials. On Unday, October twenty fourth, will participate virtually via video link to excuse me, participate in the Security Council Session commemorating the adieth anniversary of this organization. The official name of that Security Council Session is United Nations Looking into the Future. On Saturday, the Secretary General will head to Kuala Lumpur while he will attend the Asian UN Summit which it
will be chaired by Malaysia. This will on the sidelines of the summit, he will also engage in a number of bilateral discussions with counterparts at the Asian meetings as well, of course as the Malaysian hosts. We also expect a press conference schedule during that visit to Asian We expect the Secretary General back in New York on the twenty
eighth of October. And I think as you are well aware and you saw the note that we issued earlier today where we were informed by our team in Yemen that all fifteen UN intern national staff are now free to move inside the UN compound in Sana and they've also been in contact with their respective UN entities and families. This follows the October eighteenth incursion into our compound by
the de facto authorities. Also, the five national staff that had been detained during that raid on October eighteenth have also now been released. As a reminder, fifty three of our national colleagues in Yemen continued to be arbitrarily detained, just one of a flag. A number of phone calls the Secretary Generals made this morning all on the situation in the Middle East, including the specific situation in Yemen. He spoke to the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal
bin Fahan al Saud. He spoke with the Foreign Minister of Iran, said Abbas Arakshi, and he spoke twice with the Foreign Minister of Oman sit By bin Hamad bin Hammud Albu SAIDI turning to Gaza, I can tell you that we are encouraged that the parties have reaffirmed their commitments to implementing the ceasefire in Gaza and commend the steadfast efforts of the mediators. We do, however, remain concerned by all acts of violence in Gaza and the reported
attacks and strikes that took place yesterday. We urge all parties to honor all of their commitments to ensure the protection of civilians and avoid any actions that could lead to a renewal of hostilities and undermine humanitarian operations. We reiterate the Secretary General's call for the release of all the remains of all deceased hostages. The Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, has been in the region. As you know. He wrapped up his visit to the
Gaza Strip over the weekend just to flag that. On Saturday he visited a nutrition center in Gaza. He also visited a hospital and Guys City. He witnessed some road clearance projects run by the UN Development Program and a community kitchen run by our partners at the World Central Kitchen. Also on Saturday, he left Gaza through the Kareem Shalom Karrimabu Salem crossing, and on Sunday he was in Ramala to meet with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mamouda Bas.
They discussed the massive humanitarian needs in Gaza, the sixty day eight scale up, the importance of sustaining the ceasefire, and of course the situation in the West Bank and the long term prospects for Peace. Today in Jerusalem, mister Fletcher met with our humanitarian country team in the occupied Pascian Territory, which brings together about fifteen un entities and
representatives of about two hundred NGOs. Also today, mister Fletcher announced that the Mindaru Foundation of Australia announced its contribution of ten million Australian dollars from the foundation for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, delivered in close coordination with the sixty day Plan. If Michelle was here, she tell us how much ten million Australian dollars is in US dollars. With
the ceasefire in places, more areas become accessible. UNA said yesterday they are expanding the number of temporary learning spaces set up in community shelters for displaced people and in Darryl, Bala and Khanyunis our partners. Our partners resumed the distribution of food parcel to thousands of families for the first time for the first time in months, and over the weekend, we along with our partners continue to collect aid from
the Kareem Shalom and Casufium crossings. This included postpartum hygiene, kids, medical supplies, water and food and also I'm just sorry I missed this. I want to flag that in the North, preparations are also underway. To sorry, I'm getting confused by by own notes here, I'll start again. Over the weekend, we and our partners continue to collect aid from the
Cream Shalom Kisuffim crossings. This included postpartum hygiene kits, medical supplies, fuel, food and water, and yesterday, for the first time, Israeli authorities allowed the United Nations to deploy monitors at the Kissufim crossing. This is of course a welcome development as it will provide us with much needed visibility into that segment of the pipeline. And just want to flag the
situation on the West Bank. OCHA tells us that between the seventh and the thirteenth of October it documented seventy one settler at tax, half of which were related to the ongoing olive harf this season. The incident which affected Palestinians in twenty seven villages, including attacks on harvesters, theft of crops, harvesting equipment, vandalism of olive trees resulting in
casualties and property damage. When a flag your a number of humanitarian situations, none of which are good first with Sudan or Humanitarian colleagues on the ground warned that the ongoing violence across Sudan is putting civilians at graver risk and forcing even more people to flee their homes. In recent days, fighting is escalated in North and West Darfur states, were drone strikes and clashes reported across several areas. On Sunday. A drone strike on sarf Omrah's main market in North
Darfur reportedly killed at least seven civilians. Strikes in El Jinana, the capital of West Darfur, also cause casualties. The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than three thousand people were newly displaced in North dark for last week alone, including fifteen hundred from El Fasher and another fifteen hundred from Abu Gamra following renewed fighting in that village. Tensions
are also rising sharply in Kordofan. Nearly a thousand people were displaced from Lagawa town in West Kordifan state on Saturday. That's due to height insecurity. Meanwhile, in South Kordafan, the town of Dilling and the state capital of Kadugli remain under siege, with supply routes cut off and shortages of basic goods are worsening by the day. In Blunile State, classes between armed groups displaced six hundred people from bout Town in a Tadamon locality last week. Civilians across Sudan
continued to bear the brunt of this relentless violence. Despite the numerous challenges, our humanitarian colleagues continue to provide vital assistance to displace people in areas that we and our partners are able to reach safely, and once again we call for the immediate cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians, and for us to be allowed to have unimpeded humanitarian
access wherever it is needed. Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our colleagues and the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs are sounding the alarm over the collapse of health systems in North and South Kivu, where hostilities continue to impact civilians and devastate critical civilian infrastructure.
These two provinces, eighty five percent of health facilities are affected by shortages in medicine, while nearly forty percent have seen an exodus of health staff and further undermining their delivery of services in North Kivu alone, Our partners working in Health report that about a third of all health facilities in the province conflict zones have been destroyed, looted, or abandoned, leaving millions of people with extremely limited access
to health care. The remaining facilities are overwhelmed and face critical shortages of essential supplies, including kits for survivors of sexual violence, collar treatments, and just basic routine vaccines. This is happening as the province battles at deadly epidemics. Since the beginning of this year, health partners have reported eight six hundred cases of cholera, eight thousand cases of impos and more than ten thousand, five hundred cases of measles,
all of which has already claimed dozens of lives. Our partners on the ground estimate that without urgent action, more than six thousand preventable deaths could occur between now and the end of the year. They also project a potential forty percent increase in maternal mortality in the hardest hit areas. The two point five billion dollar humanitarian needs and Response plan for the Congo is currently just sixteen percent funded, with just four hundred and ten million US dollars received
so far. Our Health Parker oartners urgently need six million dollars to procure central supplies and maintain these life saving services. Urgent measures are needed to ensure the continued functioning of health care facilities in all affected areas by christ excuse me, in all areas affected by crisis in the eastern part of the DRC. Additional funding is required to prevent a
greater tragedy. We also call on the parties in this conflict as well to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, protect civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, and to ensure the safe and unimpeded access of humanitarian aid wherever it is needed. And in Haiti, just off the coast of Florida, the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that are resurgence of cholera in West
Department over the past months. Since September eighth, health authorities have reported new cases in the Commune of Petunville, following eleven weeks with no cases confirmed in the country. In just a single week between the fifth and the eleventh of October, one hundred and thirty nine suspected cases were recorded, including more than twenty lab confirmed cases. Five deaths were
also reported. Betjonville, as well as the capital Port of Prints, including the Commune of Cite de Solet, remain on red alert and made concerns that cholerasts spreading at sites that is hosting internally displaced people, and there are a lot
of internally displaced people in that area. Haiti's Ministry of Health was support from the Pan American Health Organization and other humanitarian partners have stepped up disinfection campaigns, community awareness activities, and the distribution of chlorine safe order and hygiene kits in the areas that are most impacted. This outbreak is unfolding amid a severe deterioration of basic services in Port of Prints, where only eleven percent of the health facilities
within patient capacity remained fully operational. Our colleagues at OCHE and our partners continue to support national authorit these efforts to strengthen disease surveillance, expand response capacities and contain the spread of cholera. And today is besides that. If you count your world, if you count your world days, which day is today?
World Statistics Day?
Yes?
Get it?
Which is observed every five years to recognize the vital role of data in addressing today's global challenges. In his message, the Secretary of General says that a reliable data drives progress and recovery, and he calls for greater investment and trustworthy, timely and impartial statistics to help shape better policies and advance sustainable development for all. And once you finish celebrating
World Stics Statistics date, this is not my day. You're all invited to attend a launch at six PM of the global exhibit Shared Lives, Shared Future, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of this August organization that will be in their General Assembly lobby. The Secretary journal is set to make opening remarks, followed by those of the Permanent Representatives of Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, with whom the Department
of Global Communications is co organizing the event. The project is comprises more than two hundred stories from one hundred and ninety three countries and three other territorial entities, showcasing the impact of the UN systems on people's lives everywhere, including in the global North, often an invisible way. And there's more information on the back on that there is no money today, there's no quiz so I will go to you furnishe you're sitting in the ap seat, Yes.
All alone, but it's fine. I have two questions. I wanted to first start with Yemen. Is there any additional details you can share about the SGS conversations with the Iranian and yemen foreign ministers? Are they facilitating access or helping negotiate the release.
Of the I mean, I mean obviously, as we do in similar cases, it is normal for the Secretary General to speak to those Member states who have special influence over the situation, who are engaged in the region. So
this was in that context. It's very important that when staff of the United Nations, who work on behalf of all one hundred and ninety three members face situations like the ones we do we're facing in Yemen, that those Member States who can help help and that's why the Secretary General have these phone calls with these three foreign ministers in a very positive manner.
And then secondly on Gaza, Israeli officials have told AP that the flow of aid is supposed to return today, but as of this afternoon, it was not clear if.
That AID had restarted.
Can you give a status on what the AID situation.
Yeah, I don't have b on the information I shared with you just a few minutes ago. I don't have anything. I don't think have anything more, but my colleagues will let me know while we're briefing if I get something else. Abd Alhamid, thank.
You, Sefan. On Friday evening, the family of Aban was traveling back to their homes in Hizaton and Gaza. Ashall had their car, killing all eleven members, seven children, three women and one man. And yet the you and did not say one word about this.
We've expressed I think the Secretaryihnal expressed his Uh expressed his very serious concern about the continuing violence that we're seeing in Gaza.
For violence, it's a crime against a family.
Why there were I.
Think I think we have been extremely vocal about the play and the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, and I think we are working to end that suffering as quickly as possible. Uh farnush I am told sorry, I had the language here that while the crossings were close Friday, Sunday and Monday. Sorry that AID entered from Gaza today. The crossing was closed, was closed on Saturday. No, I do not have numbers. Okay, yes, Abdhamad, you're sure you have a second question.
Yeah, my second question. And I have noticed lately that you don't mention Karim abu Salm, the Arabic name for.
The cross Abdahamid, With all due respect, I just wish you would listen to what I said, because I specifically said Kareem abu Salem karm shalm in my first reference to this crossing today. So I'm happy for you to parse the language that I use. But all that I asked is that you listen to what I said. Gabriel, thank you.
Step Speaking of border crossings, do you have any update on Rafa that the UN has been given on when it might reopen?
Okay?
And you said that you have Israel's allowed monitors, and.
Yes, thank you.
How many other border crossings do you have monitors at at this point?
At this point, it's the only one where we have those types of monitors, okay.
And last question is why are those monitors important for you guys?
It helps us get visibility on the kind of aid, on the aid that actually is going in. Not only ours, but the bilateral aid and the private sector that's going in.
Yes, Madam Xena from IM and Free and Homeland News. I want to ask about the you and staff held in Yemen. Are you satisfied with the fifteen they got released and they are just still in the compound, that's how.
They am I what?
Sorry?
Am I satisfied? So can you repeat your question?
I'm sorry?
Is it okay that you and stuff they are released and in the compound they didn't get to free the.
I mean, it's totally that's that's a true fact what you said. It is a step in the right direction. We hope that they will be free to leave the compound as soon as possible.
My second question why there is a lot of ambiguity surrounding their their capture. There not too much information about how they were.
I mean, I don't know.
To us, it's pretty clear armed elements from the Huti de Factor authorities entered the compound at gunpoint from what I understand, uh, and they were detained in their room. You know what. We updated you on the situation earlier in the week, and now the situation seems to have moved in the right in the right direction.
Okay, Ahmed, thank you. Step with regard to the repeated incidents of capturing un personnel both local and international, this time is Actuary General considering contacting the Iranian government since they have significant beverage.
Can I just stop you. I don't know if there's a problem with the sound system, but I actually listed the phone calls the Secretary General that including the Foreign Minister, so bad I have. I have zero attention span. I just hope you have a little better attention span than I do. Yes, please.
Iran says that it has informed you and that its resulation two two three one is formally added as a corporation deal with the IAEA is terminated, and also Pakistan and Abuanissan have agreed on a two A ce spy or any comments on both of these.
Well on the Afghanistan and Pakistan. We hope that the ceasefire will hold and that all of the outstanding issues will be dealt diplomatically. We have received the Secretary General has received letters from the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and China on Resolution twenty two thirty one.
What I can just refer you, what I can say to that is I would just refer you back to the note to correspondence and the steps we took on September twenty seventh, twenty twenty five, and that note was shared with you on the twenty eighth. The Secretary Journal continues to call upon the parties to demonstrate renewed political will towards meaningful negotiations and to explore all avenues for
the continued diplomatic engagements on the Iran nuclear issue. Frank, what see where the U N Can you put your.
Micro low to see whether event draws a distinction between detainees and hostages, because one would obviously involve a non state actor and the other would involve a government.
Where do you draw along?
No, I think UH. We are in the midst of discussions to get ensured that our international colleagues are allowed to leave. We are also UH very much involved in discussions to ensure that the fifty three national colleagues from our release from arbitrary detention. UH. Currently we are not using UH the H word UH to describe the situation.
Just to follow up, within the UN Security Management System, there is a berieve that was put now back in twenty twenty two saying that under no circumstances. And maybe you can confirm this that the UN will not pay ransom in these situations.
That is correct?
Okay, Verry please and then and I'll go to your Stefani. Yes, please go.
Ahead, Thank you so much. My name is Bruce Paheiri. I'm a reporter from Goma Istan, Democratic Republic of Congo. I have two question is The first is DRC is cutio in fight against climate change, but it's eastern part is facing conflict that impacts really on its biodiversity. What is a UN doing to help dr C to grapple with such a situation, especially regarding biodiversity.
Your your very correct prosperence saying in linking conflict to the vulnerability of biodiversity, notably in the in the d r C. Our focus right now in the Congo, especially in the eastern part of the Congo, through where our peacekeeping mission remains and where it is not, through our humanitarian work is to help bring some relief to people, to help to try to help bring people back to their farmlands, to get people's back lives back on track.
It is challenging often for member states to deal with the immediate crisis like conflict and the long term crisis like the loss of biodiversity. But we will continue to work with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to address both things at once.
And as the second question is, since twenty twenty three, you and I mean MUNUSCO and a DRC have signed an agreement about a gradual disengagement of MUNUSCO from Congolese soil. But over the last months you have seen the security situation depleted was really deteriorating. So have you anything to say? What is the future of MUNUSCO in the Republic of Congo.
MONUSCO will continue to draw down as mandated by the Security Council. At the same time, we will continue to work with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and certain parts of its security and military apparatus to ensure that they can pick up and fill the void that may be left by the departing UN forces Stefano and Islam.
Yes, from MINUSCO to minorso. Given the United States has circulated a draft resolution on Western recognizing Moroccos two thousand and seven Autonomy Plan, does the Secretary General believe these initiative alliance with the UN principles of self determination and how does he view Washington proposal to limit Minorso's mandate to just three months.
Look, the Security Council members, in their wisdom will make a decision on the mandate of Minorso. I have nothing really more to add than to say that both Minorso continue its work and the personal Envoid continues his work.
But in the resolution, the United States proposed that the Secretary General will within three months will propose is AD for MINUSO and eventually proposing United States proposing to dismantled.
Basically that you know how it works. The Security Council decides and the Secretary General does so let's wait for the resolution. Okay, yes, sorry Islam, Please.
Thank you Stefan. Since the since fire was put on effect since October tenth, according to the reports that are around, the AD sees fire violations by Israel, and I think last port was ninety seven Guzan's diet, if not more. At the moment, I just would like to know does you went any part monitoring disease fire in Gaza and what is the mechanism other than news reports? Who wires disease fire?
No, we are not part of a ceasefire monitoring mechanism. Our focus in Gaza currently is on humanitarian assistance. Obviously, in the process of doing our work, we are witness to things, and I think, as I did earlier today we speak out against it, but we are not part of an official mechanism of which monitors or cease fire. That's up to the mediators.
You have a terrorist organization on one hand that murdered a lot of innocent people. You've got an Israeli army that was defending itself on the other that has learned a lot over the past couple of years. And then of course you have an innocent civilian population in Gaza.
That's caught in the middle.
But we're here on the other that is learned a lot over the past couple of years. And then of course you have an innocent civilian population in Gaza that's caught.
In the middle.
But here at the Civilian Military Cooperation Center, which we are announcing the opening of, you have Israelis and Americans working hand in hand to try to begin the plan to rebuild Gaza, to implement a long term piece and.
Actually ensure that you have security forces.
On the ground in Gaza not composed of Americans who can keep the piece over the long term.
So we've got a lot of work left to do.
This is going to take a very, very long time, but I think See Woodcoff, Jared Kushner and Admiral Cooper behind me have done an incredible job. I want to say just a couple of quick things, and I would to turn it over to see Woodcoff. Number one, the Israeli government has been remarkably helpful in this. I want to thank them, thank our Israeli partners, and all the folks particularly who are working hand in hand with their American friends here at the CMCC.
And number two, I want to say that there is this weird attitude.
I've since in the American media, in the Western media, where there's almost this desire to root for failure, that every time something bad happens, that every time that there's an act of violence, there's this inclination to say, oh, this is the end of the ceasefire, this is the end of the peace plan. It's not the end. It is in fact, exactly how this is going to have to happen When you have people who hate each other, who have been fighting against each other for a very
long time. We are doing very well. We are in a very good place. We're going to have to keep working on it, but I think we have the team to do exactly that. So with all thanks to our partners, both in Israel but all across the Golf, Arab States, Indonesia, the Turks. We are doing an amazing thing here, and I'm particularly proud of the American troops working at the Command center who are coordinating this effort and making it possible.
So with that, I want to thank Ambassador Steve Whitkoff and turn it over to him to say a few things, and after.
Everybody's said a few words, we'll take some questions. Thank you guys, se.
Well, thank you very much, mister Vice President. We're really proud of what's happened here. It's an amazing effort, great coordination between our partners.
We have a great team.
Signing this deal up was a challenge in and of itself, but the implementation where that's where it really is going to be the most important. And I think we are exceeding where we thought we would be at this time. I think the Vice President has come out here, he sees that the Secretary of State will be out here. I can't tell you what a privilege it is to work with the team that we have with Jared, who's an extraordinary the President of course, and the Vice President
and Admiral Cooper. I would also say this, we're learning so much here. This cm that we are CMCC that we're setting up now, this is going to be used in other conflicts as we figure out all the intricacies of how to modulate a peace deal go from war to peace. Lastly, in closing, I want to speak about the the uh mourning that me and Jared had. We met with ten hostages and their families and it was really an emotional moment and I felt I felt blessed
to be in that room. Lots of tears, lots of people really really grateful to President Trump for getting their children home and h and you of course missed the Vice President, and I want to I want to observe that I didn't see any victims in that room.
I saw strong.
People who have come out under very difficult circumstances. Their families are reunited and they are so grateful, and it was just my privilege as an American to be there.
Thank you, great, thank you, sure, thank you, thank you Vice President.
Thank you, Steve.
First of all, we really appreciate your visit here. It's given a great boost of energy to everyone here, and your support through this whole effort has been really tremendous. What you've see here today is really the opening of the CMCC. This has been something that's been envisioned by Sencom Admiral Cooper will speak about that in a bit, but we always knew that the deal that we were working on would kind of have two phases to it. The first phase was obviously getting the live hostages out.
We're currently making progress on the hostages the bodies that are still there. I think almost half are out now, and good, very good meetings with the Israelis. I know the Vice President's here to put a lot of effort into that today to hopefully make sure we can complete
that mission in phase two. At the same time, the humanitarian aid there's actually been a surprisingly strong coordination between the United Nations and Israel, which is something that we've been able to help synthesize, get each other to air their concerns and to find out how we can.
Do it better.
Is that the aid reaches the people in Gaza and doesn't go into the wrong hands there. Finally, I'll say that there has already been a lot of efforts over the last years by really concerned people to think about what happens next in Gaza, and a lot of great things happening here. More will be released in the coming days, but the most important thing here is to figure out how you really get a good deconfliction coordination center. This really has been a startup. There's been a lot that's
been done. It's amazing to think it's only been a week. But I actually with the pace of work and the commitment of everybody, I think in a week from now you'll see even more progress. I want to echo what the Vice President said about how a lot of people are getting a little hysterical about different incursions one way or the other, but what we are seeing is that
things are going in accordance. Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense warfare to now at peace time posture, and really thanks to Admiral Cooper Sencom and the CMCC to try to build that deconflection mechanism in order to make sure that we can get to a proper de escalation. We have some flags that we've put up here. This is not fully representative of the countries that are here. It's happening very rapidly that people are
agreeing to come on board, agreeing to help. People really want to be a part of this, and it's just happening very very quickly. So we'll try to continue to give the updates as it progresses, but really just thank you to the entire team here who's made all this possible. It's been a lot of sleepless nights, around the clock effort and it's really been great coordination because everyone believes that it is possible to create something better in Gaza, and we have to believe it.
We have to work hard for it.
And if we all work hard to do that, then I do believe a great outcome is possible.
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Who are you, I'm your adventurer's side.
Let's roll.
Thanks Sair dam.
Well, mister Vice President, thank you for joining us here today at the CMCC. Consistent with our Commander in chiefs direction, this facility will be the hub for the delivery of everything that goes into Gaza as we look at the future, delivering on the Commander in Chiefs commitments.
Two hundred of America's.
Sons and daughters who wear the cloth of the nation have stepped up and are serving here. I just couldn't be prouder and I know that you are as well. Thank you so much.
Great Thanks Addam Roland.
Gentlemen, we'll take a few questions now, sure.
And who they have who that.
Will unerground here?
Boss Well, I think first of all, what troops are on the ground that Israel is going to be a question the Israelis have to agree to, and I'm sure that Prime Mister Netanyahu will have opinions about that.
But we think everybody has a role to play here.
Some of that's going to be financial, some of that's going to be in reconstruction. Some of that's just in communication with the various parties to ensure that this deconfliction process actually works and is implemented. We're not going to force anything on our Israeli friends when it comes to foreign troops on their soil, but we do think that there's a constructive role for the Turks to play, and frankly, they've already played a.
Very constructive role.
We're very grateful for that, and you asked they've supported himas in the past. No one who is a party to this conflict can look in the past and not point at something.
That they don't like or that they disagree with.
Everybody who's been involved in this conflict can point at one other person one of these flags, can point in another flag and say we hate that person for various reasons. The way that we're going to get to peace is to focus on the future, which is what the President of the United States has asked us to do, and we think everybody here is very willing to do that and it is very eager.
To engage in that effort.
Ma'am.
Well, Jared's the investor here. I'm not going to give you a percentage, but look, what we've seen the past week gives me great optimism.
The ceasefire is going to hold.
And if we get from where we were a week ago to a long term, durable peace between Israel and Gaza, there are gonna be hills and valleys. There are going to be moments where it looks like things aren't going particularly well.
But given that, and given.
The history of conflict, I think that everybody should be proud of where we are today. It's going to require constant effort. It's going to require constant monitoring and supervision. That's part of the reason that Admiral Cooper and his team is here is to mediate.
These disputes, to mediate.
These disagreements as they come up. But look, right now, I feel very optimistic. Can I say with one hundred percent certainty that it's gonna work. No, But you don't do difficult things by only doing what's one hundred percent certain You do difficult things by trying. And that's what the President of the United States has asked us to do.
Sir, are still.
Today if you.
Want, Yeah, so, Steve, I'm gonna ask you to follow up here, But let me say just a couple of words about the deceased dosages. I mean one of the stations that I met with, one of the groups that's working on this, that I met with earlier, they actually have a photo of the fifteen these sausages who are still in Gaza.
It is a focus of everybody here.
To get those bodies back home to their families so that they can have a proper burial. Now that said, this is difficult. This is not going to happen overnight. Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages nobody even knows where they are. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work to get them, and that doesn't mean we don't have confidence that we will. It's just a reason to counsel in favor of a little bit of patience. This is going to take a
little bit of time. And look, our warning to Mos is very straightforward. The terms of the twenty point plan that the president put out.
There is very clear.
It's supported not just by Israel, by all of our golf Arab friends. It's that Hamas has to disarm. It's that Hamas has to actually behave itself, and that Hamas while all the fighters can be given some sort of clemency. They're not going to be able to kill each other, and they're not going to be able to kill their fellow Palestinians. Now, again, that's going to take a little bit of time. We're talking about how to set up the security and humanage, terarian apparatus to put all this
in place. But right now where I stand, I feel confident that we're going to be in a place where this piece lasts, where it's durable, and if a Maas doesn't cooperate, then, as the President of United States have said, Hamas is going to be obliterated.
Steve, you want add anything the hostages?
Okay, great, ma'am.
How much do.
Well?
Look?
The President actually put out a truth this morning that I thought was very instructive. We know that Hamas has to comply with a deal, and if a mass doesn't comply with a deal, very bad things are going to happen. But I'm not going to do what the President of the United States has thus far refused to do, which is put an explicit deadline on it. Because a lot of this stuff is difficult, a lot of this stuff
is unpredictable. You basically have two regions in Gaza, one of itch is relatively safe, I wouldn't say very safe, and one of which is incredibly dangerous. And part of an ensuring that we get to a durable peace is to broaden the scope of the area that's safe, and the International Security Force is a big part of that.
We don't yet have the.
International Security Force set up. That's something we're working towards. We have a number of volunteers who want to participate in that International Security Force. So my point is, I don't think it's actually advisable for us to say this has to be done in a week, because a lot of this work is very hard, it's never been done before, and in order for us to give it a chance to succeed, we've.
Got to be a little bit flexible. I think what you're seeing.
From our golf Air friends, certainly from our Israeli friends, is a certain amount of impatience with Hamas. But we're going to keep on working at this process, and we're going to keep on trying to bring the deceased Hossages home but also make sure that all Gosans are able to live in a prosperous and safe place.
Yeah, never dump your tires. Maybe we use them in the garden, but the best thing to do is we cycle them. Treat your tire is right, recycle them.
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Yes, yeah, Jared, you want to say a few words about that.
Great.
So first of all, no reconstruction aid, no reconstruction funds will be going into areas that Hamas still controls. And as far as the demilitarization goes, once the ISF is up, there needs to be a security force that they can feel safe from that in order for it to be the transition to be complete.
So that needs to happen.
There are considerations being happening now in the area that the IDEF controls, as long as that could be secured to start the construction as a new gaza in order to give the Balistinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs, a place to live. So that's one of the many things being considered right now. Again, there's been several workstreams that have occurred over the last years.
Those are all being synthesized and updated here at the Center and then they'll go before President Trump and the board piece to get recommendations on what to build, how to phase it. But that's definitely something now that's being very strongly considered.
Great sir, Oh sorry, why don't we do the guy in the back of them. We'll do you in the blue jacket?
Thank you good? Could you speak up for me? Yeah?
Well, you know, I think Steve put it best, which is that this model, I think could serve for a foundation for normalization not just in the Middle East, but across the world, because what we're taking again is a long term, protracted conflict with two enemies who really don't like each other, and we're actually creating a model that can lead towards sustainable piece. Now, we know that a lot of our golf Air friends would like to have
normalized relations with Israel. We know that getting this piece on a sustainable pathway is sort of the critical first step of that. But look, I feel very optimistic about where we are. Knock on wood, you never know how this stuff is going to go. But given what I've seen, given the incredible talent and effort that's going in to the reconstruction of Gaza, to the long term security of the Gazans in that.
Territory, I feel very good about where we are.
And again, if we get this right, I really do think it's going to be a domino that leads to a lot of further peace all across the region. Sir, the first question, No, my visit had nothing to do with events in the.
Past forty eight hours.
We had actually tried to plan this visit frankly months ago, and now we thought this would be a good time to do it. It ended up working out, as you know, sometimes calendars are difficult, especially when you're the Vice president of the United States.
But I wanted to come.
I wanted to check in on things.
I wanted to, you know, talk to the troops who are working very hard to coordinate this massive relief effort. And I wanted to just see how things are going and put some eyes on it so I could call the President the United States, and actually, you know, it's one thing to read about it. It's one thing to talk with Jared and Steve on the phone about what's
going on on the ground. It's another thing to actually shake somebody's hand, to look them in the eye and to understand what are the challenges, what are the things they need from me. I mean, I heard from relatively junior troops very simple things that would make their lives easier than I'm going to take back to Washington and hopefully help them with.
That's why you do a visit like this.
Not because of anything that's happening on the ground. On your question about what does the ultimate you know, authority in Gaza look like, I don't know the answer to that question. And I think what's so cool, what's so amazing about what these guys have done, is that we're creating a governance structure that is very flexible to what happens on the ground.
In the future.
We need to reconstitute Gaza. We need to reconstruct Gaza. We need to make sure that both the Palestinians living in Gaza but also the Israelis are able to live in some measure of security.
And civility.
We're doing all those things simultaneously, and then I think once we've got to a point where both the Gazas and our Israeli friends can have some measure of security, then we'll worry about what the long term governance of Gaza is. Let's focus on security, rebuilding, giving people some food and medicine. If we get to the point where we're arguing exactly what the governance structure in Gaza is long term, then we should pat ourselves on the back. That's a very good problem to have. But I won't
anticipate that problem before we actually have it. I'll take a couple more and then we'll get moving. Ma'am, can you speak up?
Thank you?
Well, the incentives are that unless the MOS disarms in accordance with the agreement, very bad things are going to happen, right And also the incentive is that if they disarm, there is a better future for everybody on the other side of it.
But in terms of the International.
Security Force, Steve and Jared Admiral Cooper are working on that very issue right now. Remember this peace deal was struck under the President's leadership literally a week ago. The hostages were turned what six days ago, five days ago. So we're in the phase now where we're actually starting to conceptualize what that international security force would look like. I think it's important for Americans to know a couple of things. Number One, there are not going to be
American boots on the ground in Gods That. The President of United States has made that very clear. All of our military leadership has made that very clear. What we can do is provide some useful coordination. How do you take you know, the golfare of States plus Israel plus you know, plus the Turks plus the Indonesians. How do you actually get those folks to work together in a way that actually produces long term piece The only real mediators are the United States of America, and so that's
the role that we're going to play. I think the American people should be proud of them that they should know that there are going to be no American boots on the ground in Gaza. Well, I'm not going to make any announcements here today. The President of United States has been very clear about our policy with regards to Iran.
It's that he actually wants Iran to be prosperous. He wants to have good relations with the Iranians, but they cannot have a nuclear weapon, and so we're going to keep on using and exhausting every diplomatic means possible to try to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. That's our focus, and that will remain our focus for the indefinite future. Let me just leave us with one final thought here. So I've been Israel once in my
entire life. I came for about thirty six hours. And as a Christian, I think the world's Christians will know that this country, that this region of the world, means a great deal to me.
And at some point today I hope to go. At some point in the next couple.
Of days, I should say, I hope to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which Christians believe is the sight that Jesus Christ was crucified in. And I know that Christians have many titles for Jesus Christ, and one of them is the Prince of Peace.
And I'd ask all people of faith, in particular my fellow.
Christians, to pray that the Prince of Peace can continue to work a miracle in this region of the world. I think that we have made incredible strides over the past week. We're going to have to make a lot more, but I think with your prayers, with God's providence, and with a very good team behind me, I think we're gonna get it done.
Thank you all, take care.
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