The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and expressed support for the work of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which was adopted with 158 votes in favour from the 193-member assembly and nine votes against with 13 abstentions.
A second resolution expressing support for UNRWA and deploring a new Israeli law that would ban the UN agency’s operations in Israel was carried with 159 votes in favour, nine against and 11 abstentions.
That resolution demands that Israel respect UNRWA’s mandate and calls on the Israeli government “to abide by its international obligations, respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA and uphold its responsibility to allow and facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms into and throughout the entire Gaza Strip”.
Both votes culminated two days of speeches at the UN where speaker after speaker called for an end to Israel’s 14-month war on the Palestinian territory that has killed at least 44,805 people – mostly Palestinian women and children – and wounded 106,257.
“Gaza doesn’t exist any more,” Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar told the General Assembly meeting. “It is destroyed. Civilians are facing hunger, despair and death,” he said.
“There is no reason for this war to continue. We need a ceasefire now. We need to bring hostages home now,” he added.
Algeria’s deputy UN ambassador Nacim Gaouaoui addressed the world’s inability to stop the war in Gaza: “The price of silence and failure in the face of the Palestinian tragedy is a very heavy price, and it will be heavier tomorrow.”
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from UN headquarters in New York, said “the message is clear with these two resolutions”.
“Number one, UNRWA needs to be protected and their mandate needs to be protected and bolstered. Of course, Israel is trying to destroy UNRWA. They’ve made that very clear for many months now,” Elizondo said.
“And the second message that it sends is the overwhelming majority of the world is calling for, again, an immediate ce