The United Nations General Assembly on Friday approved a non-binding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza to end hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, the first U.N. response to the war. respond.
The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120 to 14, with 45 abstentions, after rejecting a U.S.-backed Canadian amendment. It will unequivocally condemn Hamas’ “terrorist attack” on October 7 and demand the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas, something that is not mentioned in the Arab-drafted resolution.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, called the General Assembly “more courageous and principled” than the divided U.N. Security Council. The Security Council has made four attempts to agree on a resolution over the past two weeks, but has failed each time. Two were rejected and two failed to receive the minimum nine “yes” votes needed for approval.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called the day “a day of infamy” and said after the vote: “Israel will not continue until Hamas’ terror capabilities are destroyed and our hostages are returned.” Stop. … The only way to destroy Hamas is to uproot them from the tunnels and underground cities of terror.”
Frustrated Arab states have gone to the veto-free UN General Assembly – as Ukraine did after Russia’s February 2022 invasion because Moscow has a Security Council veto – to press for a response from the UN. Ambassador Rana Nusseibeh, representative of the United Arab Emirates to the Security Council, expressed joy at the outcome.
“In this geopolitical environment, 120 votes is a very, very strong signal of support for international law, support for the appropriate use of force, and a rejection of the current status quo on the ground,” she said.
The 14 countries that voted against the resolution included Israel and its closest ally the United States, five Pacific island nations and four European countries – Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, all EU members. Eight EU member states voted in favor.
France’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nicolas de Rivière, said France supported the resolution “because nothing can justify the suffering of civilians” and he urged collective efforts to establish a humanitarian truce.
Mansour said the European votes showed they could be “very helpful” in seeking a Security Council resolution “or maximum pressure on Israel to stop this war.”
While Hamas’s surprise attacks killed about 1,400 Israelis, Israeli retaliatory airstrikes have killed more than 7,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The rising death toll and destruction in Gaza has intensified international support for a “humanitarian truce” to provide desperately needed food, water, medicine and fuel to Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but the UAE’s Nusseibeh told reporters, “They carry incredible weight and moral authority.”
She said the 10 elected members of the Security Council, who will serve two-year terms, will gain “moral authority” from the UN General Assembly and work to break the deadlock on Security Council resolutions.
– The vote came as part of a list of 113 speakers adopted at the emergency special session of the General Assembly on Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Jordanian Ambassador to the United Nations Mahmoud Hammoud, speaking on behalf of the 22-nation Arab Group at the United Nations, called for action on the resolution because of the urgency of the escalating situation on the ground.
Ahead of the vote, Hamoud urged the Canadian amendment to be rejected, saying: “Israel is responsible for the atrocities being committed now that will also be committed during the ground invasion of Gaza.”
Robert Wray, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, countered that the resolution seemed to forget the events of October 7. He said the amendment would condemn Hamas, “the organization responsible for one of the worst terrorist attacks in history.”
Munir Akram, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, received loud applause when he said the Arab-drafted resolution deliberately did not condemn or mention Israel or mention any other party by name. “If Canada were truly fair,” Akram said, “it would agree to either release the names of everyone — both sides are guilty — or not to name names as we choose.”
The vote for the Canada Amendment was 88 to 55, with 23 abstentions, but it failed to obtain a two-thirds majority for or against – abstentions did not count. In the subsequent vote on the entire resolution, Canada abstained.
The emergency special session of the General Assembly began on Wednesday and continued on Friday morning, with U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield echoing Israel Erdan’s sentiments, calling the resolution “outrageous” because it never mentioned Hamas, He also called the resolution “harmful” to the vision of a two-state solution.
She called this a “dangerous moment for Israelis and Palestinians” and stressed that Hamas’s “terror” is unjustified, that Palestinians are being used as human shields and that “the lives of innocent Palestinians must be protected.”
Oman, speaking on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned Israel’s “siege” of Gaza, the starvation of its people and the collective punishment of Palestinians. But it said Palestinians would not be prevented from demanding their “legitimate and inalienable rights, chief among them the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
In addition to calling for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce to cease hostilities,” the resolution adopted on Friday calls for all parties to immediately comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, calling for the protection of civilians and schools, hospitals and other Infrastructure critical to its survival.
The resolution calls for allowing essential supplies into the Gaza Strip and ensuring continued access for humanitarian workers. The statement also called on Israel to rescind orders for Gazans to evacuate from the north and move to the south, and “firmly reject any attempt to forcibly transfer Palestinian civilians.”
The resolution also stressed the need to “urgently establish a mechanism to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians”.
It “stresses the importance of preventing further instability and an escalation of violence in the region” and calls on all parties to exercise “maximum restraint” and calls on all influential people to urge them to “work towards this goal”.
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