ISLAMABAD, 21 May, 2021 (TON): Speaking at UN General Assembly special meeting on Palestine Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday Gaza has plunged in darkness, literally and metaphorically, while the only light is that of Israeli explosions.

"The General Assembly should call for concrete steps to protect the Palestinians. We should deploy an international protection force, as was called for in General Assembly Resolution ES-10/20 and as demanded by the Islamic Summit Conference on 18 May 2018," Qureshi said.

​"If the Security Council cannot agree to send a protection force, a ‘coalition of the willing’ can be formed to provide at least civilian observers to monitor a cessation of the hostilities and supervise the provision of humanitarian help to the Palestinians," he suggested.

Qureshi said the failure of the United Nations Security Council to maintain peace and security in Gaza is "appalling."

The foreign minister stressed that the United Nations General Assembly, must then, assume its own responsibility and help the people of Palestine.

"We must not fail the Palestinian people at this critical juncture," he said.

"Those preventing the Council from doing so bear a heavy responsibility," the foreign minister said in reference to the repeated blocking by the United States of a statement calling for an end to the hostilities on the ground that such a move would interfere with the Biden administration's attempts to stop the fighting.

Qureshi also urged Israel be held accountable for its war crimes and asked the UN to activate the Human Rights Council, International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, and other avenues to ensure this.

"Death echoes in every home in Gaza," he added in his speech.

"Israel’s crimes against humanity should not escape accountability. There should be no impunity for violation of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention and other human rights conventions," he said.

The 67^th plenary meeting in New York was chaired by Volkan Bazakir, the Turkish diplomat who heads the UN General Assembly, was also attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and foreign ministers from such countries as Palestine, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Algeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kuwait, Maldives, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.

Israel continued to impose institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians living under its rule in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). It displaced hundreds of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The new wave of violence started on 6 May by Israel, when Palestinian protests began in Jerusalem over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah.