Joined by hostages’ parents, UN envoy urges Security Council to act on missing persons mandate

During a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon urges the council to implement Resolution 2474, which calls on parties to armed conflict and UN member states to search for and return missing persons to their loved ones.

Danon opens by thanking Ruby Chen  and Leah Goldin—the parents of slain hostages Itay Chen and Hadar Goldin, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and August 1, 2014, respectively—for joining him at the UNSC to urge members to uphold their commitment to returning missing persons.

Resolution 2474, adopted by the council in 2019, “called on all parties in armed conflict to account for a missing person, to return the remains of the dead, to provide information, to allow families to grieve, and to recognize that these acts are not gifts,” Danon says.

“Hamas has violated every letter of that resolution, repeatedly and openly. Where is the response? Where is the demand for compliance? Where the basic moral outrage?” he asks.

“We call on the Secretary General [Antonio Guterres] to fulfill his mandate under Resolution 2474 by including a dedicated section in his next report on the protection of civilians,” says Danon.

“That section must document the full extent of this ongoing atrocity. Every hostage still held by Hamas, every stolen body, every Israeli missing since October 7, and every fallen soldier whose remains have yet to be returned from past wars,” he explains.

“We will not forget our dead. We will not leave them behind. We will not allow Hamas to turn memory into a weapon. That is our duty, and it will be fulfilled,” the ambassador concludes.