The United Nations General Assembly emergency session held on Tuesday, December 12, overwhelmingly voted for a resolution demanding “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza. Since October 7, Israeli forces have killed over 18,400 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and have injured over 50,000 others.
The resolution also demands immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and “ensuring humanitarian access”. It was adopted with 153 countries voting in favor, 23 abstentions, and ten countries including the US and Israel voting against the resolution.
Though the resolution is non-binding it carries the opinion of the majority of world’s countries and is expected to increase the necessary pressure on Israel and its backers to take steps towards a ceasefire.
Palestinians and other Arab countries welcomed the resolution with Palestinians calling it a “world referendum on the necessity of a ceasefire.”
However, Israel rejected it calling it hypocritical and terming the UN as a “moral stain“ on humanity. It had rejected an earlier UNGA resolution adopted on October 26 demanding immediate and sustainable humanitarian truce despite 121 countries voting in favor.
On Tuesday, a large number of countries who had abstained on the similar resolution on October 26, such as India, changed their stance and voted in favor.
Tuesday’s emergency session rejected two amendments in the text of the resolution proposed respectively by the US and Austria. Both the amendments demanded condemnation of Palestinian resistance group Hamas for attacks on October 7.
The UNGA emergency session was held after Egypt and Mauritania invoked resolution 377 A (V) on Sunday following the failure of the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding immediate ceasefire on Friday due to the US veto.
Resolution 377 A (V) also known as the Uniting for Peace was adopted by the UNGA in November 1950. It provides that if the UN Security Council fails to “exercise its primary responsibility” for the maintenance of international peace and security the General Assembly can take up the issue.
“Need is to end the suffering of Palestinians”
UNGA President Dennis Francis opened the session by noting the repeated violations of the international humanitarian laws and killing of civilians in the Israeli war in Gaza and said that the UN must bring an immediate end to the suffering of civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Egyptian ambassador Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud, also representing the Arab group, questioned the countries still opposed to the humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. He claimed that such countries are standing against the “international public opinion.”
Mahmoud also rejected the arguments invoking Israel’s right to self defense by calling it a “despicable case of double standard.” As an occupying power “Israel does not have that right” he declared.
Mahmoud also underlined that war crimes and genocide against Palestinians are used as a tool of war and if left unaddressed “would damage the credibility of the UN.”
Pakistan’s ambassador Munir Akram said that the current war in Gaza is “a war against Palestinian people” with an objective to “erase not only a people but the entire idea of Palestine.”
“[Israel’s] campaign is a carbon copy of the massive campaigns of racial slaughter by other settler colonial regimes in history,” Akram claimed.
The text of the resolution recalled all the relevant resolutions adopted by the UNGA and the Security Council in the past. It mentions the contexts referred to in the letters written by the Secretary General Antonio Guterres on December 6 to the Security Council invoking Article 99 of the UN charter and a letter written by the UNRWA chief to the General Assembly describing the collapsing humanitarian system in Gaza.
