Gaza: UN calls for immediate and unconditional ceasefire

(Keystone-ATS) The resolution, adopted to applause by 158 votes in favor, 9 against and 13 abstentions, demands “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” as well as “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”, a wording similar to the text blocked a few weeks ago in the Security Council by an American veto.

At the end of November, the United States once again used its right of veto to protect its Israeli ally, who has been leading a military offensive in the Palestinian territory for more than a year in retaliation for the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Americans, insisting like Israel on making the truce conditional on the release of the hostages, had this time prevented the council from demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in Gaza. They maintained this position on Wednesday.

“A betrayal”

The resolution, which it would be “shameful” to adopt, “risks sending Hamas the dangerous message that there is no need to negotiate or release the hostages,” the ambassador said before the vote. American deputy, Robert Wood, while the Israeli Minister of Defense spoke on Wednesday of “a chance” of agreement for this release.

“Today’s vote is not a vote of compassion, it is a vote of complicity”, a “betrayal” and an “abandonment” of the hostages, for his part denounced the Israeli ambassador, Danny Danon .

Accustomed to taking over from the council, largely paralyzed on burning issues like Gaza or Ukraine, the UN General Assembly unsurprisingly adopted this non-binding resolution, which also calls for safe and “unhindered” access. for large-scale humanitarian aid and denounces any attempt to “starve the Palestinians”.

Representatives from dozens of member states marched to the podium before the vote to affirm their support for the Palestinians and an end to the war in Gaza. “Gaza no longer exists. It is destroyed,” said the Slovenian ambassador, Samuel Zbogar.

“The price” of failure

“History is the harshest criticism of inaction,” he warned, denouncing the failure “again and again” of the Security Council, of which his country is a non-permanent member.

“The price of silence and failure in the face of the Palestinian tragedy is heavy and will be even heavier tomorrow,” added the deputy Algerian ambassador, Nacim Gaouaoui.

The October 7 attack resulted in the death of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip. That day, 251 people were kidnapped on Israeli soil. A total of 96 hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.

The military campaign of retaliation launched by Israel has left at least 44,805 dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s health ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.

Resolution on UNRWA

“Today, Gaza is the bleeding heart of Palestine and an open wound for humanity,” declared the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, on the first day of the assembly’s debates last week.

“The images of our children in burned tents, empty stomachs and without hope or horizon, after having suffered more than a year of suffering and loss, should haunt the conscience of the world and push for action to end this nightmare “, he pleaded, also calling for an end to “impunity”.

The resolution also asks UN Secretary General António Guterres to present “proposals” to support “respect” for the “principle of accountability”, through existing mechanisms or by creating new ones. drawing on past experiences.

For example, the General Assembly created an international mechanism to help collect evidence of crimes committed in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011.

A second resolution, adopted by 159 votes to 9 with 11 abstentions, calls on Israel to allow the continuation of the operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Palestinian territories, threatened by a recent Israeli law.

Israel accuses agency employees of participating in the October 7 attacks.