On Friday, the United Nations Security Council approved a scaled-down initiative to increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and called for urgent steps to “create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
This came after a week of postponement of the vote and intense negotiations to reach an agreement and an attempt to avoid the United States using its veto.
Amid global outrage over the rising death toll in Gaza over the 11-week war between Israel and Hamas and the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, the United States abstained from voting to allow the 15-member council to adopt a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates.
The rest of the Council members voted in favor of the resolution, with the exception of Russia, which also abstained from voting.
Washington opposed a Russian attempt to add a call for an “urgent and sustained cessation of hostilities” to the draft resolution.
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said: “This decision is a step in the right direction. It must be implemented and must be accompanied by tremendous pressure for an immediate ceasefire. I repeat, an immediate ceasefire.”
For her part, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said, “The resolution strengthens efforts to deliver humanitarian aid on an ongoing basis to Gaza,” but she continued, “We regret that the Security Council did not condemn the actions of Hamas, and we do not understand why members of the Council rejected this condemnation.”
She added, “Hamas carries out its operations from civilian sites,” stressing that civilians, civilian facilities, and United Nations facilities “must be protected.”
For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said that Israeli combat operations are hampering efforts to deliver aid to those who need it in the Gaza Strip, and stressed that “what Hamas did does not give Israel the right to violate international law.”
He then went on to stress, “Nothing justifies the horrific attack launched by Hamas on October 7.”
He continued, “I hope that the new negotiations will lead to an agreement on the release of the hostages for aid to Gaza.”
For his part, Israel’s representative to the United Nations said that the organization’s focus on aid mechanisms for Gaza is “unnecessary and divorced from reality.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen confirmed that Israel will continue to examine humanitarian aid coming to the Gaza Strip, after the Security Council resolution.
Cohen said in a tweet on the “X” website, “Israel will continue to act in accordance with international law, but for security reasons it will continue to examine all aid in all humanitarian aid provided to Gaza.”
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2023-12-22 17:24:18
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