The UN General Assembly has approved a non-binding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza, leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
It was the first UN response to Hamas’s surprise October 7 attacks on Israel and the ongoing military response and vow to obliterate Hamas.
The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States to unequivocally condemn the “terrorist attacks” by Hamas and demand the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas.
Jordan’s UN ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud, speaking on behalf of the UN’s 22-nation Arab group, which drafted the resolution, called for an afternoon vote before all 112 speakers got to the assembly’s rostrum, because of the urgency of taking action.
The Arab group sought action by the UN body because of the failure of the more powerful 15-member Security Council to agree on a resolution after four attempts.
Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly so the resolution was certain to be adopted. While council resolutions are legally binding, assembly resolutions are not but they do serve as a barometer of world opinion.
The assembly’s emergency special session on Israeli actions, which began on Wednesday, continued with US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield echoing Israel’s envoy in calling the resolution to be voted on “outrageous” for never mentioning Hamas and saying it is “detrimental” to the vision of a two-state solution.
Oman, speaking on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned Israel’s “siege” of Gaza, starvation of its population and collective punishment of Palestinians.
But it said the Palestinians will not be deterred from demanding their “legitimate inalienable rights, chief among them the right to self- determination and the right to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
In addition to calling for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities”, the resolution demanded that all parties immediately comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law requiring protection of civilians and the schools, hospitals and other infrastructure critical for their survival.
The resolution also demanded that essential supplies be allowed into the Gaza Strip and humanitarian workers have sustained access. And it calls on Israel to rescind its order for Gazans to evacuate the north and move to the south and “firmly rejects any attempts at the forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population”.
