By Edith Lederer, UNITED
NATIONS
The U.N. Security Council on
Wednesday adopted its first resolution since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war,
calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to address the
escalating crisis for Palestinian civilians during Israel’s aerial and ground
attacks. Israel immediately rejected the resolution.Courtesy UN
The vote in the 15-member
council was 12-0 with the United States, United Kingdom and Russia abstaining.
The U.S. and U.K. abstained
because of the resolution’s failure to condemn Hamas’ surprise cross-border
attacks into Israel on October 7, and Russia because of its failure to demand a
humanitarian cease-fire, which Israel and the United States oppose.
The final draft watered down
language from “demands” to “calls” for humanitarian pauses, and for “the
immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other
groups.”
Still, the resolution, which
was sponsored by Malta, managed to overcome the serious differences that had
prevented the council from adopting four previous resolutions.
“What we have achieved today
is an important first step,” Malta’s U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said. “We
will remain steadfast in our commitment to the protection of civilians and the
plight of children in armed conflict that continue to suffer in a disproportionate
manner.”
The resolution doesn’t mention the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, where Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and took some 240 others hostage. Nor does it mention Israel’s response with airstrikes and a ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza that the territory’s health ministry says have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador
Vassily Nebenzia tried unsuccessfully to amend the resolution just before the
vote with language from a resolution adopted Oct. 27 by the 193-member General
Assembly. It calls for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce
leading to a cessation of hostilities.”
The vote on the amendment was
five countries in favor, the U.S. opposed, and nine abstentions. It was not
adopted because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes.
Nebenzia said he abstained on
the resolution because of appeals from the region for council action on the
dire humanitarian situation. But he called it a disgrace that the council,
which has “a uniquely powerful toolbox” including sanctions and even military
action, “finally squeezed out such a weak call.”
“As the old saying goes, the
mountain has labored and brought forth a mouse,” the Russian ambassador said.
U.S. Ambassador Linda
Thomas-Greenfield said she remains “horrified” that a few council members can’t
condemn Hamas’ “barbaric terrorist attack,” and criticized the resolution for
not reaffirming every country’s right to self-defense. She did note that the
resolution is the first ever adopted “that even mentions the word Hamas.”
Nonetheless, Thomas-Greenfield
called the resolution “a step forward” and said the U.S. supports its calls for
humanitarian pauses and the release of hostages.
United Arab Emirates
Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the Arab representative on the council, said its
members supported the resolution, which is the first on the situation in the
Palestinian territories since 2016.
“It is difficult geopolitical
times, and to bring the unity of the council today to speak with one voice on
the subject that has haunted all of us over the last month is, I think,
momentous,” she said.
The resolution “is a first,
important and overdue step” and will change the world’s perception that the
Security Council “is indifferent,” Nusseibeh said. But the world must not lose
sight of the urgent goal of a lasting humanitarian cease-fire, she said.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad
Erdan issued a statement saying the resolution “is disconnected from reality
and is meaningless.”
He criticized the council’s
failure to condemn Hamas, claiming the militants were deliberately allowing the
humanitarian situation to deteriorate so the United Nations would pressure
Israel to back off of Gaza.
“It will not happen,” Erdan said. “Israel will continue to act until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned.”
U.N. Security Council
resolutions are legally binding, unlike General Assembly resolutions, but in
practice many parties choose to ignore the council’s requests for action.
Richard Gowan, U.N. director
for the International Crisis Group, said the Security Council has called for
cease-fires in wars from the Balkans to Syria “with little or no impact.”
The General Assembly
resolution was approved on Oct. 27 by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions.
Since then, Israel agreed Nov. 9 to four-hour pauses. But only limited aid has
been delivered to Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt, and a humanitarian catastrophe has been brewing.
Gowan said that the council
was able to speak at all gives its member nations “some respite,” but would
likely not have any significant impact.
“The resolution is drafted in
a way that puts no real political pressure on Israel, but the U.S. will likely
urge Israel to show more flexibility on aid issues to satisfy global opinion,”
Gowan told The Associated Press. “The council will not move from this text to a
call for a cease-fire, unless facts change significantly on the ground.”
The resolution calls for
humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a “sufficient
number of days” for unhindered access by the U.N., Red Cross and other aid
groups to get water, electricity, fuel, food and medical supplies to all those
in need. It says the pauses also should allow for repair of essential
infrastructure and enable urgent rescue and recovery efforts.
It demands that “all parties
comply with their obligations under international law, notably with regard to
the protection of civilians, especially children.”
It also asks U.N.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report to the council at its next monthly
Mideast meeting, on Nov. 28, on implementing the resolution.
Asked afterward about Israel’s
rejection of the resolution, Malta’s Frazier and the UAE’s Nusseibeh said it
remains legally binding and pointed to Guterres’ upcoming report. Nusseibeh
said the secretary-general has been asked to bring ideas on what the U.N. would
need “for further monitoring and implementation on the ground.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian
U.N. ambassador, said the Security Council should have called for a cease-fire
a long time ago, stressing that “Gaza bleeds death, devastation, destruction
everywhere.” It is “a small, modest resolution,” he said.
“Israel considers all of us
terrorists,” he told the council after the vote. “Israel is not under threat of
destruction. It is destroying Palestine. It considers the Palestinian state as
a strategic threat. It is against Palestinian rule anywhere.”
Mansour said the Palestinians
will keep coming back to the Security Council and the General Assembly for
action, first and foremost for a cease-fire.
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