UNGA to vote on 'unconditional, permanent' Gaza ceasefire resolution
World
The non-binding resolution also demands unrestricted humanitarian aid access to Gaza
NEW YORK (AFP) – The United Nations General Assembly is set to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of all hostages.
The non-binding resolution also demands unrestricted humanitarian aid access to Gaza, particularly in the north, which has suffered over a year of conflict. This follows the US vetoing a similar measure in the Security Council.
The war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,208 people and involved the kidnapping of 251 hostages, has seen Israel’s retaliatory offensive result in at least 44,786 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to UN-reliable figures from Hamas health authorities.
Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour called Gaza the “bleeding heart of Palestine,” urging the international community to act. Conversely, Israel’s ambassador Danny Danon criticized the resolution for not addressing what he described as Hamas’s “infrastructure of hate.”
A second draft resolution will address Israel’s planned January ban on UNRWA, the UN agency providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians, which has faced global backlash.
'Human rights to life, safety, dignity denied to Gazans,' says UNRWA chief
Meanwhile, Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA (is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) Commissioner-General posted his message on his official X account, previously known as Twitter, on Human Rights Day deplored the situation in Gaza.
"What is at stake this Human Rights Day is not only the future of UNRWA and of Palestine Refugees that the Agency has been serving for 75 years," he wrote on X.
"What is at stake are the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international law, that have been blatantly disregarded in Gaza for the past 14 months.
"For over a year, this dystopian war has stained our shared humanity.
"The human rights to life, safety and dignity that we should all be entitled to, have been denied to an entire population.
"Also, human rights and justice should never be applied with double standards as we have repeatedly witnessed during this war.
"The future of Palestine Refugees is a shared responsibility, as is the right to education of the over 600,000 children out of school in Gaza, living in the rubble. They are on the verge of becoming a lost generation.
"Our rights and our future are at stake in Gaza today. They must be upheld and restored. Our commitment to them is a test to our shared humanity that we have failed for far too long."
