Israel ambassador to UN condemns killing of Gaza aid workers and criticizes expected General Assembly resolution

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told reporters that at least five Palestinian aid workers were killed in Gaza last night and criticized a United Nations General Assembly resolution due for a vote in the coming hour as failing to condemn those attacks or demand the release of hostages.

"Last night, Hamas murdered at least 5 Palestinian aid workers in Gaza," Danon said. He described an ambush on a convoy carrying more than two dozen humanitarian staff affiliated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and said several others were injured and "some may have been taken hostage." He called the attack "an attack on humanitarian workers" and said, "These were civilians. These are aid workers risking their life to feed the people of Gaza."

Danon said the text up for a General Assembly vote does not name or condemn Hamas and does not make the release of the roughly 53 hostages still held in Gaza a condition for a cease-fire. "If you refuse to condemn Hamas, you commend them. If you fail to demand the release of the hostages, you abandon them," he said. He called the expected resolution "a moral failure" and "a political stunt" that would be remembered "not as a step toward peace, but as a disgraceful act of appeasement."

On negotiations over a potential hostage exchange and pause in fighting, Danon said Israeli negotiators accepted a proposal put forward by "Ambassador Witkoff" but that Hamas rejected it. "It wasn't easy for us because it required releasing hundreds of terrorist murderers, but we said yes. Hamas said no," Danon said. He added that talks were ongoing and that Israel would participate if Hamas signaled willingness to move forward. "We want to see more hostages coming back home," he said.

Danon repeatedly urged delegations to read the GA text themselves and said Israel had accepted every proposal under the framework offered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, while saying Hamas had rejected them. He also linked public videos from Gaza to the organization of humanitarian distribution, saying videos show civilians in line and, he asserted, incidents in which armed members of Hamas threatened or shot people waiting for aid.

The ambassador framed his remarks as both a condemnation of the attack on aid workers and a critique of the international response. He said the General Assembly vote was scheduled soon and that he expected the resolution to pass but said its failure to explicitly condemn Hamas or demand hostage releases would be an abandonment of victims.

No formal action by the General Assembly is recorded in this briefing; Danon described an imminent vote but did not provide the text in full or an outcome. Questions from reporters followed on negotiations, on alleged internet shutdowns in Gaza and on other regional matters, to which Danon provided brief answers but did not supply new negotiating details.