• UN resolution welcomed by Hamas, rejected by Washington and Tel Aviv
• Israel kills 38 Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank, targets volatile aid route

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, a symbolic gesture rejected by the United States and Israel.

The resolution — adopted by a vote of 158-9, with 13 abstentions on Wednesday — urges “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” and “the immediate and unconditional release” of all prisoners — wording similar to a text vetoed by Washington in the Security Council last month.

At that time, Washington used its veto power on the Council — as it has before — to protect its ally Israel. It has insisted on the idea of making a ceasefire conditional on the release of all prisoners in Gaza, saying otherwise that Hamas has no incentive to free those in captivity.

Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood repeated that position on Wednesday, saying it would be “shameful and wrong” to adopt the text.

Ahead of the vote, Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon said: “The resolutions before the assembly today are beyond logic. (…) The vote today is not a vote for compassion. It is a vote for complicity.”

Hamas said on Thursday it welcomed the UN General Assembly vote for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas said in a statement it “welcomes the adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution, supported by 158 countries, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, enabling civilians in the (Gaza) Strip to have immediate access to essential services and humanitarian aid”.

The resolution, which is non-binding, demands “immediate access” to widespread humanitarian aid for the citizens of Gaza, especially in the besieged north of the territory.

Dozens of representatives of UN member states addressed the Assembly before the vote to offer their support to the Palestinians.

“Gaza doesn’t exist anymore. It is destroyed,” said Slovenia’s UN envoy Samuel Zbogar. “History is the harshest critic of inaction.”

That criticism was echoed by Algeria’s deputy UN ambassador Nacim Gaouaoui, who said: “The price of silence and failure in the face of the Palestinian tragedy is a very heavy price, and it will be heavier tomorrow.”

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said: “We will keep knocking on the doors of the Security Council and the General Assembly until we see an immediate and unconditional ceasefire put in place.”

The Gaza resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to present “proposals on how the United Nations could help to advance accountability” by using existing mechanisms or creating new ones based on past experience.

A second resolution calling on Israel to respect the mandate of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and allow it to continue its operations was passed on Wednesday by a vote of 159-9 with 11 abstentions.

38 Palestinians killed

Israel killed 13 Palestinians in two air strikes on Thursday that Gaza medics and Hamas said were part of a force protecting humanitarian aid trucks.

Many of those killed in the attacks on Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza had links to Hamas, medics and Palestinian residents said. The 13 were among 36 Palestinians killed in separate Israeli attacks on Thursday, the medics said.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA initially reported those killed in the two airstrikes were guarding the aid trucks.

Hamas said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 police tasked with securing aid trucks in Gaza since the conflict began on Oct 7, 2023.

According to WAFA, children were among seven people killed when a residential building in Gaza City’s al-Jalaa Street was bombed in a separate attack.

Another Israeli bombing killed 15 people in a house where displaced people were taking shelter, west of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics and WAFA said.

In the northern Gaza refugee camp of Jabalia, where the army has operated since October, health officials said an orthopedic doctor, Saeed Judeh, was shot dead by Israeli forces while on his way to Al-Awda Hospital where he usually treated patients. The health ministry said his death raised to 1,057 the number of healthcare workers killed since the war began in October last year.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since the Gaza conflict began, Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in separate raids in Nablus and Qalqilya, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2024