UN General Assembly call for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza

The United Nations General Assembly decisively voted on Wednesday to call for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, along with the immediate release of all hostages. The ceasefire demand in the resolution – passed with 158 votes in favor in the 193-member assembly – was articulated in more urgent phrasing than a previous call for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza that the body “called for” in October 2023 and later “demanded” in December 2023.

General Assembly resolutions are not binding but possess political weight, indicating a global perspective on the conflict. The United States, Israel, and seven other countries opposed the ceasefire resolution, while 13 countries chose to abstain. The world organization also expressed its support for the U. N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, passing a second resolution with 159 votes in favor to condemn a new Israeli law that will prohibit UNRWA’s operations in Israel from late January.

It insisted that Israel honor UNRWA’s mandate and “allow its operations to proceed without impediment or restriction. ” The U. S. , Israel, and seven other countries voted against it, while 11 countries abstained. “The messages we send to the world through these resolutions matter. And both of these resolutions have significant problems,” Deputy U. S. Ambassador to the U. N. Robert Wood informed the assembly. “One rewards Hamas and minimizes the necessity to free the hostages, while the other disparages Israel without offering a solution to enhance humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians,” he stated.

Israel’s U. N. Ambassador Danny Danon accused the U. N. last week of having “an obsession with vilifying Israel,” while Palestinian U. N. envoy Riyad Mansour referred to Gaza as the “open, painful wound for the human family. ”

‘HUNGER, DESPAIR, DEATH’

Israel claims that UNRWA staff participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war in Gaza. The U. N. stated that nine UNRWA staff members might have been involved and had been dismissed. An Israel-killed Hamas commander in Lebanon was also discovered to have held an UNRWA position.
“By voting for these resolutions, you are not voting to protect humanitarian values, but to protect an organization that has become a haven for terror,” Danon addressed the assembly on Wednesday before the vote.
UNRWA was created by the General Assembly in 1949 in response to the war that followed the establishment of Israel. The U. N. has consistently asserted that there is no alternative to UNRWA, which delivers aid, health services, and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
“Gaza doesn’t exist anymore. It is destroyed. Palestinians are confronting hunger, despair, and death,” Slovenia’s U. N. Ambassador Samuel Zbogar told the assembly. “There is no justification for this war to carry on. We require a ceasefire immediately. We need to return hostages now. ”
The conflict in the Palestinian enclave commenced when Hamas gunmen invaded Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals and the abduction of around 250 hostages taken back to Hamas-controlled Gaza, as per Israeli estimates.
Since then, the Israeli military has demolished large portions of Gaza, displacing nearly all of its 2. 3 million inhabitants, leading to lethal hunger and disease and claiming more than 44,800 lives, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not differentiate between combatants and non-combatants.