United Nations, Dec 23: The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution that demanded scaling up humanitarian assistance throughout the Gaza Strip but did not call for a ceasefire which the UN Secretary General said was “needed” for aid to be effectively delivered.
After days of intense negotiations and delays on a vote, the 15-nation Council on Friday adopted the United Arab Emirates-drafted resolution with 13 votes in favour, none against and abstentions by Russia and the US.
The resolution demanded that parties to the conflict “allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip, and in this regard calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” It also demanded allowing and facilitating the use of “all available routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip, including border crossings.” The resolution however did not call for a ceasefire and experts described it as being “watered-down”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters after the resolution was adopted, said that a humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare. “I hope that today’s Security Council Resolution may help this finally to happen but much more is needed immediately,” he said.
In response to a question on whether he was hoping the Council would have joined his call for a ceasefire, Guterres said “Of course, I was hopeful. That doesn’t mean that things happen according to our hopes. But in any case today, you can see, always, a glass as half full or half empty.
“I hope that today’s resolution will make people understand that a humanitarian ceasefire is indeed something that are needed if we want humanitarian aid to be effectively delivered,” he said.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said it took many days and “many, many long nights of negotiating to get this right, but today, this Council provided a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of unimaginable suffering.” She said that through the resolution, the Council called for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. (PTI)
