MONITORING (SW) – The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The assembly passed a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which was adopted with 158 votes in favour from the 193-member assembly and nine votes against with 13 abstentions.
A second resolution expressing support for UNRWA and deploring a new Israeli law that would ban the UN agency’s operations in Israel was carried with 159 votes in favour, nine against and 11 abstentions, reported Al Jazeera.
That resolution demands that Israel respect UNRWA’s mandate and calls on the Israeli government “to abide by its international obligations, respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA and uphold its responsibility to allow and facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms into and throughout the entire Gaza Strip”.
Both votes culminated two days of speeches at the UN where speaker after speaker called for an end to Israel’s 14-month war on the Palestinian territory that has killed at least 44,805 people – mostly Palestinian women and children – and wounded 106,257.
US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood reiterated Washington’s opposition to the ceasefire resolution in advance of the vote and criticised the Palestinians for again failing to mention Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed an estimated 1,139 people and saw more than 200 Israelis taken captive in Gaza.
The Palestinians and their supporters went to the General Assembly after the US vetoed a Security Council resolution on November 20 demanding an immediate Gaza ceasefire.
The language of the ceasefire resolution adopted by the assembly is the same as the text of the vetoed Security Council resolution, and demands “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to be respected by all parties,” while also reiterating a “demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said last week, during the first day of debate in the assembly’s special session on the issue, that Gaza is “the bleeding heart of Palestine”.
“The images of our children burning in tents, with no food in their bellies and no hopes and no horizon for the future, and after having endured pain and loss for more than a year, should haunt the conscience of the world and prompt action to end this nightmare,” Mansour said.
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