The UN without the original request for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Gaza, the UN Security Council on Friday approved a watered-down resolution that called for the immediate acceleration of aid deliveries to Gaza’s hungry and destitute civilian population.
Russia and the United States abstained in the much-awaited, 15-member council vote, which ended in a 13-0 vote. Following Hamas’ unexpected attacks inside Israel on October 7, the United States decided not to veto a resolution on Gaza for the third time. The U.S. did not want the stronger language to be restored, while Russia did.
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Israel
Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan addressed the council, stating that the UN should concentrate on freeing prisoners detained in Gaza rather than focusing solely on methods of providing aid to the Palestinian territory.
In the course of the resolution’s negotiations, Erdan expressed gratitude to the US for maintaining Israel’s authority to continue vetting aid that reaches Gaza.
Israel will keep up its assault in Gaza “until the liberation of all the captives and the eradication of Hamas, which in the the Gaza Strip Strip,” Foreign Secretary Eli Cohen declared in a social networking post.
United States
Nevertheless, the resolution’s sponsor, United Arab Emirates envoy Lana Nusseibeh, remarked, “It proved to be the Christmas divine intervention we had all been hoping for.” She claimed that it would demonstrate to the Gaza population that the UN Security Council was making an effort to lessen their suffering.
The resolution marked the end of a week or a half of a high degree diplomacy by the UAE on with regard to Arab countries, the US, and other parties. The vote, which was supposed to take place on Monday, was postponed every day until Friday.
“This was difficult, but we got there,” diplomat from the United States Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated to the council, clearly relieved.
The vote, according to her, supports initiatives “to push for the safety of innocent people and humanitarian workers, to work towards an end to violence, and to relieve this emergency by helping to get life-saving supplies into Gaza and to get slaves out of Gaza.” The urgency of this cannot be overstated, according to Thomas-Greenfield. “We all need to do more, and this resolution acknowledges the seriousness of the situation.”
An amendment from Russia that would have reinstated the call for an immediate suspension of hostilities was vetoed by the US, prompting the vote. Ten nations voted in favour, the United States voted against, and four countries abstained.
Russia
Vassily Nebenzia, the ambassador of Russia to the United Nations, denounced the resolution as “entirely toothless” and charged that the US was engaging in “shameful, cynical, and irresponsible conduct” and using “of gross pressure, blackmail, and twisting arms.”
According to him, the resolution would essentially grant total freedom of movement to the Israeli military in order to clear the Gaza Strip. He stated that if several Arab nations hadn’t backed it, Russia would have revoked it.
As a result, the resolution was deprived of its most vexing provision: the call for “urgent suspension of conflict to enable safe and unrestricted humanitarian availability, as well as immediate action towards a long-term cessation of conflicts.”
As an alternative, it demands that “urgent steps be taken to swiftly allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian availability, as well as for creating the circumstances necessary for a long-term cessation of hostilities.” Diplomats said that although the procedures are not specified, this is the council’s first mention of ending hostilities.
Palestine
The UN envoy for Palestine, Riyad Mansour, noted that the Security Council needed 75 days “to finally speak the words ‘cessation of hostilities,'” and emphasised that the Russian amendment was backed by the Arab and Palestinian parties. Mansour stated that the resolution’s significant humanitarian provisions make it “a step in an appropriate direction.” “It has to be put into action and must be supported by intense pressure for an instant ceasefire.”
The US had twice overruled resolutions in favour of a ceasefire, widening the chasm between the US and other major powers as well as Arab countries. Additionally, the administration of President Joe Biden either rejected or softened its demands on Israel as well as its PM Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the carnage.
After another week of delays caused by intense negotiations by Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, to finally mediate passage of an amendment with US support, the latest resolution was passed on Friday.
The resolution asks for the selection of a “coordinator” to supervise the entry of assist into Gaza, but it does not demand that Israel give up control over the process of inspection.
By “consulting all relevant parties,” that individual will be in charge of “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying” humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Hamas
In a statement, the armed Palestinian grouping in control of Gaza claimed that the resolution did not go far enough in addressing the needs of the bombarded Palestinians in the Strip, suggesting that it did not agree with the Palestinian Authority’s position on the matter.
“The US management has worked very hard over the last five days to strip the proposal of its substance and challenge it in this flimsy formula. A statement from Hamas stated, “It flouts the resolve of the global community along with the U.N. General Assembly to succeed in stopping Israel’s violence towards our defenceless Palestinian people.”
UN resolution on aid to Gaza criticized as “meaningless” and “insufficient.”
Both Israeli and American officials have maintained that any cessation of hostilities will only facilitate the Hamas militants’ attempts to reorganise.
A bill that failed to pass on Tuesday would have required the taking of immediate, legally-binding “urgent actions [to be implemented] towards a long-term cessation of hostilities and for a safe and unrestricted humanitarian access.”
The UN ambassador of Russia, Vasily Nebenzya, described the US negotiations as “shameful, cynical and irresponsible conduct” that would ultimately result in a “toothless” and “extremely neutered” resolution, “sabotaging” efforts towards a lasting peace.
In addition to criticising the “ambiguous phrase” that asks for “a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” he suggested that the resolution is “giving Israel an authorization for war crimes” and that any resistance to instantaneous attempts to end the conflict renders council members “complicit” in the destruction of Gaza. “Why are we all in this room together? To merely approve a decision that suits Washington well?” he asked.
The resolution’s passing, according to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “provided an ember of hope amongst a sea of unfathomable suffering” after the vote, though she chose not to support it.
“To secure the safe return of captives and contribute towards an eternal peace,” she declared, the US will “continue to operate with the the United Nations, with relief organisations and nations throughout the vicinity to get additional assistance into Gaza.”
“We need to discover a way out of the suffering we witness,” she continued. “To finally put an end to this extreme suffering, we must cooperate.”
On October 18, the US vetoed a resolution proposed by the Security Council that called for support for Palestinians in Gaza and denounced all acts of violence against civilians during the Israel-Hamas conflict. On December 8, the US rejected a second council elimination that called for a prompt humanitarian truce in Gaza and was supported by dozens of other countries in addition to practically all of the other council members. On December 12, the 193-participant General Assembly passed a similar resolution by a vote of 153–10, with 23 abstentions.
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