Tunisia Presses Security Council to Call COVID-19 a Threat to Peace

FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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Tunisia Presses Security Council to Call COVID-19 a Threat to Peace

FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
FILE PHOTO - The United Nations Security Council meets on Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, US, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Tunisia has proposed a UN Security Council resolution calling for "urgent international action" to curb the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which it described as “a threat to humanity.”

In broad terms, the draft resolution echoes UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in calling for "an immediate global humanitarian ceasefire."

Tunisia, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, proposes in the preamble that the council express "concern about the impact on food security and economies... all over the world due to work, travel and trade restrictions, lockdown measures and cessation of industrial activities."

The draft says the pandemic is “a threat to humanity and to international peace and security.”

It was embraced by the all 10 non-permanent Council members, a diplomat said. In addition to Tunisia, they include Germany, Belgium, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa, Niger, the Dominican Republic, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Estonia.

But the resolution appears to reflect growing frustration between the non-permanent members and the permanent ones (Russia, the US, China, France and the United Kingdom).

According to diplomats, the proposed resolution's fate is uncertain as long as the United States continues to push for identifying the virus' Chinese origin, which would likely result in a veto by China.

Russia, which also holds a veto, might also want the resolution to call for a lifting of sanctions to better fight the pandemic.

Without US and European support, the resolution in that case would risk failing to garner the minimum nine of 15 votes required for passage.

The UN’s most powerful body has not addressed the pandemic sweeping the globe, but Dominican Republic Ambassador Jose Singer, the current council president, said Wednesday he expects members to meet on COVID-10 “for sure next week, or before.”
Guterres is expected to brief the council at the request of Germany’s UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, diplomats said.
Only Guterres has spoken out, warning on multiple occasions that "millions" of people are at risk of dying and stressing the need for a coordinated global response to what he described as the worst crisis since World War II.
Guterres has extended his order for non-essential UN to stay at home until the end of April.



94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 45 while attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel’s military did not have immediate comment on the strikes, The Associated Press reported.

Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 40 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.

The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. But Hamas’ response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.

The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas members and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of people hungry.