UN votes for ceasefire in Gaza amid US and Israel opposition
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Wednesday, calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Nine countries opposed its adoption, including Israel and the USA. At the end of November, a similar resolution failed in the UN Security Council vote.
The resolution was adopted with 158 votes in favour, 9 votes against, and 13 abstentions. It included a demand for an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" as well as the "immediate and unconditional release of all hostages".
"The vote today is not a vote for compassion. It is a vote for complicity," stated Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon. Israel and the USA were among the nine countries voting against the resolution.
The UN General Assembly also passed a resolution, adopted with 159 votes in favour, 9 votes against, and 11 abstentions, calling on Israel to allow the continuation of operations by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Palestinian territories. In this case, the USA and Israel also voted against.
"One rewards Hamas, the other humiliates Israel"
"The messages we send to the world through these resolutions matter. And both of these resolutions have significant problems," assessed the US Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood. "One rewards Hamas and downplays the need to release the hostages, and the other denigrates Israel without providing a path forward to increasing humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians," he added.
At the end of November, the USA vetoed the draft UN Security Council resolution, calling for an "immediate, unconditional, and permanent" ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and separately for the "immediate and unconditional release of all hostages".
American diplomats explained that Washington would only support a resolution in which the call for the immediate release of hostages is part of the call for a ceasefire.
