Middle East conflict
Ceasefire for Gaza: UN Security Council adopts resolution
There was immense pressure on the UN Security Council to reach a common position after weeks of negotiations. photo
© Xie E/XinHua/dpa
The UN Security Council agrees on a common position in the face of the war in the Gaza Strip. He calls for ceasefires and opposes “forced relocation of the civilian population.”
The UN Security Council passed a Gaza resolution calling for days Ceasefires accepted. After a long struggle, the most powerful UN body in New York agreed on the joint resolution. The USA waived a veto and abstained, as did Russia and Great Britain. 12 of the 15 member states voted in favor of the text. Resolutions of the Security Council are binding under international law and can thus develop international influence.
The resolution introduced by Council Member Malta calls, among other things, for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days” to ensure humanitarian assistance in accordance with international law. But there is no talk of a formal ceasefire. The text focuses strongly on the suffering of Palestinian minors. It expresses “deep concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its serious impact on the civilian population, in particular the disproportionate impact on children.”
Israel is not mentioned by name throughout the document
All parties to the conflict are required to comply with international law, a “forced relocation of the civilian population” is rejected, and vital services must not be withheld from the people in the Gaza Strip. According to diplomats, these positions should be understood with regard to Israel’s actions in the region – although the country is not mentioned by name throughout the document. The text only mentions the Islamist Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7th and carried out a massacre of civilians with around 1,200 deaths, in its demand for the release of the Israeli hostages kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.
Until shortly before the vote, it was questionable whether the USA, as Israel’s closest ally, could tolerate the adoption of the resolution. In October, Washington vetoed a draft because, among other things, it did not emphasize Israel’s right to self-defense. The resolution that has now been adopted does not address this, nor is there any condemnation of the Hamas massacre on October 7th. The USA, like China, Russia, France and Great Britain, has veto rights. The Council also has ten member states elected for two-year terms. A resolution needs at least 9 of the 15 votes, and there can be no veto.
role of the USA
U.N. expert Richard Gowan of the Crisis Group think tank said U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield appeared to have made it clear to Washington “that the U.S. must allow some sort of action in the Council after weeks of blocking progress.” The United States was careful to avoid calling for a formal ceasefire in the text.
“So ultimately the US achieved its main goal of focusing the council on humanitarian action rather than calling for a complete end to the war,” Gowan said. At the meeting, Russia failed to integrate the demand for a final cessation of hostilities and a ceasefire into the draft.
There was immense pressure on the UN Security Council to reach a common position after weeks of negotiations. To date, drafts have failed, among other things, due to the vetoes of the USA on the one hand and Russia and China on the other. The UN General Assembly with its 193 members passed a resolution that was significantly more critical of Israel at the end of October with a large majority. Germany abstained at the time. This decision was not binding under international law.