2023-12-22 20:09:54
12/22/2023-|Last update: 12/22/202309:57 PM (Mecca time)
On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted by a large majority a reduced resolution on expanding humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and monitoring it, but without adopting the draft resolution on an immediate suspension of “hostilities” between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
13 of the 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor of Resolution No. (2720), while the United States and Russia abstained from voting.
The resolution calls on “all parties to enable and facilitate the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of large-scale humanitarian assistance” to Gaza, to take “urgent” measures in this regard and “to create conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
The United States vetoed a Russian attempt to add a call for an “urgent and sustained cessation of hostilities” to the draft resolution.
Russia’s representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said that the United States included a dangerous element in the draft resolution that allows Israel to cleanse the Gaza Strip.
Nebezia added that the text of the draft resolution related to Gaza had been emptied of its essence, due to pressure from the United States, also accusing Washington of using pretexts and blackmail to develop a resolution that satisfied it regarding Gaza.
For her part, US Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the decision will appoint a UN delegate to supervise the expansion of aid delivery to Gaza.
Greenfield added that the resolution allows aid to reach Gaza without obstacles, and expressed her surprise because some Council members refused to condemn Hamas in this resolution.
British delegate Barbara Woodward also said that the approved decision will simplify aid inspections and speed up its delivery to those who need it.
In reactions, the Palestinian delegate to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, described the adoption of Resolution 2720 as a step in the right direction, stressing the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza.
On the other hand, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that Tel Aviv will continue to examine all humanitarian aid provided to Gaza for security reasons.
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