Middle East
UN: Call for ceasefire in Gaza war fails
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike. There are repeated calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. photo
© Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
For months, the UN Security Council has been divided on the issue of a ceasefire in the Gaza war. Israel’s protecting power, the USA, is now changing course. But two other veto powers are standing in the way.
The demand for a binding international law Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has failed again in the UN Security Council. Russia and China blocked the resolution introduced by the USA in New York in the most powerful body of the United Nations with a veto. Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the US government’s proposed resolution was half-hearted and did not call for a ceasefire clearly enough.
The committee’s previous efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip had failed due to resistance from the veto power USA, Israel’s closest ally. With the now rejected resolution, the USA also changed course towards Israel on the UN stage. In view of the increasing number of civilian casualties and the threat of famine in parts of the sealed-off coastal strip, the USA had recently increased its pressure on Israel.
The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, once again strongly supported the resolution immediately before the vote. “Every day without a decision means more unnecessary suffering,” she emphasized.
What did the design look like?
The draft rejected resolution emphasized the “need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire to protect civilians on all sides and to enable the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and alleviate human suffering.” The Security Council fully supports ongoing international efforts to “achieve such a ceasefire coupled with the release of all remaining hostages,” the text continued.
There should be no expulsion of civilians and the “systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure” is rejected. The Security Council also reaffirmed the plan to strive for a two-state solution in the Middle East, “with the Gaza Strip as part of a Palestinian state.”
This is how the vote works
A resolution in the UN Security Council needs the votes of at least 9 of the 15 member states. In addition, there may be no veto from the permanent members USA, Russia, China, France or Great Britain.
Security Council resolutions are binding under international law. If an affected state ignores them, the body can impose sanctions. However, it is unclear how great the impact of a decision would be on the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US abstained from a successful Security Council resolution in November – which did not call for a ceasefire, but at least a ceasefire lasting several days – and thus waived its veto.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre with more than 1,200 deaths that terrorists from Hamas and other groups carried out in Israel on October 7th.