Malaysia strongly supports the clarion call by United Nations Secretary-General
António Guterres for the United Nations Security Council to urgently address the
grave situation in Gaza, and to immediately declare a humanitarian ceasefire.
The merciless attacks, bloodshed and crimes against humanity perpetrated
against innocent civilians, especially children in Gaza, must stop.
Malaysia lauds the Secretary-General for bringing the matter to the attention of
the Security Council, which is within his mandate under Article 99 of the United
Nations Charter, as the continued atrocities committed in Gaza present a clear
threat to the maintenance of international peace and security. The last time Article
99 was invoked by a United Nations Secretary-General was in 1989. The call by
Secretary-General António Guterres demonstrates the gravity of the current
situation in Gaza.
The international community, foremostly the Security Council, has a responsibility
to exhaust all efforts to prevent further escalation of atrocities, and end the
catastrophic human suffering and physical destruction in Gaza. Failure to act
collectively and swiftly will only erode trust and faith of the international
community in the credibility of the Security Council and the multilateral system as
a whole.

The Council must decide whether it wishes to remain paralysed due to cyclical
political polarisation, or undertake a moral and ethical path by prioritising the
protection of innocent civilians, as well as due respect and adherence to
international law as mandated by the United Nations Charter.
Malaysia will not yield in its unequivocal conviction, shared by many countries
around the world, that the Palestinians deserve their own independent and
sovereign state, based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its
Capital.