The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) approved by a large majority this Wednesday (11) the demand for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, with the liberation snapshot of all hostages.
The demand for a ceasefire in the resolution — approved with 158 votes in favor in the assembly, which has 193 members — was expressed in more urgent language than a previous one that requested a humanitarian truce, something the organization “requested” in October 2023 and then “demanded” in December of the same year.
General Assembly resolutions are not mandatory, but have political weight, reflecting a world view on war. The United States, Israel and seven other countries voted against the ceasefire resolution, while 13 countries abstained.
The world body also gave its support to the UN humanitarian aid agency in Palestine, UNRWA, adopting a second resolution, with 159 votes in favor, to counter a new Israeli law that prohibits the agency from operating in Israeli territory from the end of January.
“The messages we send to the world through these resolutions are important. And both resolutions have significant problems,” US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the Assembly. The country voted against both.
“One of them rewards Hamas and minimizes the need to release the hostages, and the other offends Israel without providing a path to increase humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians,” he added.
against Israel on October 7, 2023, an event that led to the war in Gaza. The UN assumed that nine members of the agency may have been involved in the action and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon, killed by Israel, also had a job with the entity.
Understand the conflicts involving Israel
At the end of November, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was approved. This comes after months of bombings by the Israeli Army in Lebanon.
The offensive caused destruction and forced more than a million people to leave their homes to escape the war. Furthermore, it left dozens of people dead in Lebanese territory.
Like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are radical groups financed by Iran, and therefore enemies of Israel.
The expectation is that the agreement will serve as the basis for a more lasting cessation of hostilities.
At the same time, the war continues in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas and searching for hostages who were kidnapped more than a year ago during the radical group’s attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. At the time, more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped.
Since then, more than 43,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza during Israel’s offensive, which also destroyed virtually every building in the Palestinian territory.
On a third front of conflict, Israel and Iran exchanged attacks, which despite raising tension, did not evolve into an all-out war.
In addition, the Israeli Army has been carrying out bombings on Iranian-allied militia targets in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
