The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and expressed support for the work of the UN\u2019s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which was adopted with 158 votes in favor from the 193-member assembly and nine votes against with 13 abstentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A second resolution expressing support for UNRWA and deploring a new Israeli law that would ban the UN agency\u2019s operations in Israel was carried with 159 votes in favor, nine against and 11 abstentions. That resolution demands that Israel respect UNRWA\u2019s mandate and calls on the Israeli government \u201cto 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both votes culminated two days of speeches at the UN where speaker after speaker called for an end to Israel\u2019s 14-month war on the Palestinian territory that has killed at least 44,805 people \u2013 mostly Palestinian women and children \u2013 and wounded 106,257.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGaza doesn\u2019t exist any more,\u201d Slovenia\u2019s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar told the General Assembly meeting. \u201cIt is destroyed. Civilians are facing hunger, despair and death,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no reason for this war to continue. We need a ceasefire now. We need to bring hostages home now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Algeria\u2019s deputy UN ambassador Nacim Gaouaoui addressed the world\u2019s inability to stop the war in Gaza: \u201cThe price of silence and failure in the face of the Palestinian tragedy is a very heavy price, and it will be heavier tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from UN headquarters in New York, said \u201cthe message is clear with these two resolutions.\u201d \u201cNumber one, UNRWA needs to be protected and their mandate needs to be protected and bolstered. Of course, Israel is trying to destroy UNRWA. They\u2019ve made that very clear for many months now,\u201d Elizondo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd the second message that it sends is the overwhelming majority of the world is calling for, again, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel and its staunchest ally, the United States, were in a tiny minority of countries and their representatives speaking and voting against the resolutions at the UN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood reiterated Washington\u2019s opposition to the ceasefire resolution in advance of the vote and criticized the Palestinians for again failing to mention Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed an estimated 1,139 people and saw more than 200 Israelis taken captive in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt a time when Hamas is feeling isolated due to the ceasefire in Lebanon, the draft resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there\u2019s no need to negotiate or release the hostages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In advance of the UN vote, Israel\u2019s UN Ambassador Danny Danon accused supporters of the resolutions of complicity with Hamas. \u201cBy demanding a ceasefire today without addressing the hostages, this assembly will once again side with those who weaponise human suffering,\u201d Danon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While UN Security Council resolutions are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions are not, though they do reflect world opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Palestinians and their supporters went to the General Assembly after the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution on November 20 demanding an immediate Gaza ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The language of the ceasefire resolution adopted by the assembly is the same as the text of the vetoed Security Council resolution, and demands \u201can immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to be respected by all parties,\u201d while also reiterating a \u201cdemand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said last week, during the first day of debate in the assembly\u2019s special session on the issue, that Gaza is \u201cthe bleeding heart of Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d Mansour said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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