22- December-2023- News Agencies
The UN Security Council has passed a resolution urging scaled-up humanitarian aid access to Gaza after multiple delays. The US and Russia abstained during the vote, and all other members of the council voted in favour.
Israeli UN envoy says only barrier to aid deliveries is UN ability to accept it
Israeli envoy Jonathan Miller, speaking at the Security Council, said the “the only roadblock for entry is the UN’s ability to accept them”.
Israel has condemned UN leadership’s response to the conflict and has accused UNRWA, which coordinates aid deliveries in Gaza, of turning a blind eye to Hamas’s operations. The agency has rejected the claim.
UNRWA has said its facilities have been repeatedly hit by Israeli strikes, with 70 percent of its local staff displaced. At least 136 UNRWA staff have been killed.
Observers have said aid deliveries have been slowed by onerous Israeli security inspection. Miller said those inspections must remain.
Enhancing UN monitoring and coordination of aid is not a cure all,” Miller said. “Any enhancement of UN aid monitoring cannot be done at the expense of Israel security inspections”.
Palestinian envoy to the UN speaks at Security Council
Riyad Mansour reiterates the three objectives of the Palestine and Arab Group, and the OIC: an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian assistance at scale, and no forced displacement.
He turns to criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, “What we are dealing with is an attempt at the destruction of our people, and their displacement forever from their land. This is Israel’s goal, it’s true objective. No future for Palestinians in Palestine.”
Mansour is visibly emotional when recounting the story of 12-year-old Dunia Abu Mohsen, who lost her family, and her legs, in an Israeli attack at the end of last month. After telling an interviewer that she wanted the war to end, and wanted to be a doctor when she grew up, she was killed in another Israeli attack on Nasser hospital on Sunday.
The envoy adds the Palestinians supported the Russian amendment that was vetoed by the US, but expresses support for the resolution that has passed, saying it is “a step in the right direction”. He reiterates his call for an immediate ceasefire.
UN Security Council ADOPTS resolution calling for urgent steps to allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access throughout Gaza; US and Russia abstain
VOTE
In Favor: 13
Against: 0
Abstain: 2 (US, Russia)
Guterres: Ceasefire needed if humanitarian aid is to be delivered
Al Jazeera’s Anade Situma had the following exchange with Guterres during his news conference:
Anade Situma: It’s been over two weeks since you invoked Article 99, and up until this point, until today, the Security Council has failed to act, and we have failed to see a resolution until the resolution we just saw passed. This resolution calls for increased aid, but it does not join your call for a ceasefire. When you invoked Article 99, were you hoping for more urgency on the part of the Security Council? And perhaps even for them to join your call for a ceasefire?
Antonio Guterres: Of course, I was hopeful, that doesn’t meant things happen according to our hopes. But in any case, today, you can see always [that] a glass is half full or half empty. I hope that today’s resolution will make people understand that a humanitarian ceasefire is something that is needed if we want humanitarian aid to be effectively delivered.
How UN Security Council members voted
Here is how the UN Security Council members voted on the draft resolution:
- Thirteen in favour: Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, the UAE, China, France, the UK
- Two abstentions: The US and Russia.
- No votes against.
Only the five permanent members on the council – the US, Russia, France, China, and the UK – wield veto power
US abstains during Security Council Gaza resolution vote
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US’s envoy to the UN, has said that she wouldn’t respond to Russia’s “rant” during its proposal of an amendment to the resolution that would have introduced stronger language on ending the fighting in Gaza.
Russia “has also created conditions that they are complaining about with their war in Ukraine”, she said.
“We believe the humanitarian resolution before us calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” she said, calling it a “strong step forward”.
犀利士
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