The United Nations Security Council on Friday approved a toned-down bid to boost humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and called for urgent steps “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities” after a week of vote delays and intense negotiations to avoid a veto by the United States.
Amid global outrage over a rising Gaza death toll in 11 weeks of war between Israel and Hamas and a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, the U.S. abstained to allow the 15-member council to adopt a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates.
Quick Read
- U.N. Security Council’s Scheduled Vote on Gaza Aid Resolution:
- Date: Friday.
- Aim: Deliver aid to Gaza.
- Revision: Backed by the United States, modified to avoid a U.S. veto.
- Differences in Resolution Drafts:
- U.S. Support: For a revised draft.
- Russia and Others: Favor stronger wording, including a call for the urgent suspension of hostilities.
- Council Discussions and Delays:
- Private Meetings: To review the revised draft.
- Consultation: Members consulting capitals on significant changes.
- Uncertainty of Adoption:
- Key Factor: Russia’s decision.
- Possible U.S. Action: Abstention could allow adoption without a veto.
- High-Level Negotiations:
- Involvement: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
- Diplomatic Efforts: Multiple discussions with foreign ministers from Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Britain, France, and Germany.
- Revised Resolution Details:
- Removal: Call for the urgent suspension of hostilities.
- New Focus: Urgent steps for humanitarian access and conditions for sustainable hostilities cessation.
- Aid Deliveries: Request for U.N. Secretary-General to appoint a coordinator for relief deliveries.
- U.S. Negotiations:
- Partners: United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
- Bypass: Mainly avoided involving other council members, leading to objections.
- Humanitarian Situation in Gaza:
- U.N. Secretary-General’s Warning: Gaza faces a humanitarian catastrophe.
- Food Crisis: Entire population in crisis, with a significant portion facing catastrophic starvation.
- Death Toll: Nearly 20,000 Palestinians since the war’s start.
- Security Council vs. General Assembly Resolutions:
- Security Council Resolutions: Legally binding but often ignored.
- General Assembly Resolutions: Not legally binding but reflect world opinion.
The Associated Press has the story:
UN Security Council acts to boost aid to Gaza after US abstains
Newslooks- UNITED NATIONS (AP)
The United Nations Security Council on Friday approved a toned-down bid to boost humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and called for urgent steps “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities” after a week of vote delays and intense negotiations to avoid a veto by the United States.
Amid global outrage over a rising Gaza death toll in 11 weeks of war between Israel and Hamas and a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave, the U.S. abstained to allow the 15-member council to adopt a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates.
The remaining council members voted for the resolution except for Russia which also abstained.
Following high-level negotiations to win over Washington, the resolution no longer dilutes Israel’s control over all aid deliveries to 2.3 million people in Gaza. Israel monitors the limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
But a weakening of language on a cessation of hostilities frustrated several council members – including veto power Russia – and Arab and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation states, some of which, diplomats said, view it as approval for Israel to further act against Hamas for a deadly Oct. 7 attack.
After many delays, the U.N. Security Council votes on Friday on a watered-down resolution to deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza.
The adopted resolution “calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The initial draft had called for “an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities” to allow aid access.
“By signing off on this, the council would essentially be giving the Israeli armed forces complete freedom of movement for further clearing of the Gaza Strip,” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council before the vote.
Russia proposed the draft be amended to revert to the initial text calling for “an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The amendment was vetoed by the United States. It received 10 votes in favor, while four members abstained.
Earlier this month the 193-member U.N. General Assembly demanded a humanitarian ceasefire, with 153 states voting in favor of the move that had been vetoed by the United States in the Security Council days earlier.
The U.S. and Israel oppose a ceasefire, believing it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and free hostages taken by Hamas.
AID MONITORING
Last month the United States abstained to allow the Security Council to call for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting for a “sufficient number of days” to allow aid access. The move came after four unsuccessful attempts to take action.
Washington traditionally shields its ally Israel from U.N. action and has already twice vetoed Security Council action since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 people taken hostage.
Israel has retaliated against Hamas by bombarding Gaza from the air, imposing a siege and launching a ground offensive. Some 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Most people in Gaza have been driven from their homes and U.N. officials have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe. The World Food Programme says half of Gaza’s population is starving and only 10% of the food required has entered Gaza since Oct. 7.
A key sticking point during negotiations on the resolution adopted on Friday had been an initial proposal for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a mechanism in Gaza to monitor aid from countries not party to the war.
A toned-down compromise was reached to instead ask Guterres to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator to establish a U.N. mechanism for accelerating aid to Gaza through states that are not party to the conflict.
The coordinator would also have responsibility “for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature” of all the aid.
The council also called for the warring parties “to adhere to international humanitarian law and … deplores all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as all violence and hostilities against civilians, and all acts of terrorism.”
The revised text is backed by the United States, while Russia and other countries still support stronger wording that would include a call for “the urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas.
Council members met behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss a revised draft resolution, then delayed the vote so they could consult their capitals on the significant changes, aimed at avoiding a U.S. veto. A new text with a few minor revisions was circulated Friday morning.
It was unclear whether the resolution would be adopted. One council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were private, said Russia holds the key.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters the United States backs the new text. She didn’t say how the U.S. would vote, but an abstention would still allow adoption of the resolution if Russia or another permanent member didn’t use its veto.
The circulation of the new draft culminated a week and a half of high-level negotiations involving U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Between Tuesday and Thursday, Blinken spoke to the foreign ministers of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates three times each as well as to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Britain, France and Germany.
The vote, initially scheduled for Monday, has been delayed every day since then.
Rather than watered down, Thomas-Greenfield described the resolution as “strong” and said it “is fully supported by the Arab group that provides them what they feel is needed to get humanitarian assistance on the ground.”
But it was stripped of its key provision with teeth — a call for “the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
Instead, it calls “for urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The steps are not defined, but diplomats said if adopted this would mark the council’s first reference to stopping fighting.
On a key sticking point concerning aid deliveries, the new draft eliminates a previous request for the U.N. “to exclusively monitor all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through land, sea and air routes” by outside parties to confirm their humanitarian nature.
It substitutes a request to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to expeditiously appoint “a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator with responsibility for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying” whether relief deliveries to Gaza that are not from the parties to the conflict are humanitarian goods. It asks the coordinator to expeditiously establish a “mechanism” to speed aid deliveries and demands that the parties to the conflict — Israel and Hamas — cooperate with the coordinator.
Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. negotiated the new draft with the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council which sponsored the resolution, and with Egypt, which borders Gaza, and others. This mainly bypassed the 13 other council members, several of whom objected to being left out, according to diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity because the consultations were private.
Guterres has said Gaza faces “a humanitarian catastrophe” and warned that a total collapse of the humanitarian support system would lead to “a complete breakdown of public order and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt.”
According to a report released Thursday by 23 U.N. and humanitarian agencies, Gaza’s entire 2.2 million population is in a food crisis or worse and 576,600 are at the “catastrophic” starvation level. With supplies to Gaza cut off except for a small trickle, the U.N. World Food Program has said 90% of the population is regularly going without food for a full day.
Nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, since the war started. During the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took about 240 hostages back to Gaza.
Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, and its Health Ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Thousands more Palestinians lie buried under the rubble of Gaza, the U.N. estimates.
Security Council resolutions are legally binding, but in practice many parties choose to ignore the council’s requests for action. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they are a significant barometer of world opinion.
