The U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) on Oct. 27 overwhelmingly approved a nonbinding resolution that calls for an immediate “humanitarian truce” in the Gaza Strip.
Israel and the United States voted no on the resolution, titled “Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations.” Five Pacific island nations and four European Union members—Austria, Croatia, Czechia, and Hungary—also opposed the measure; eight EU members voted in favor.
“Hamas” isn’t mentioned at all by name in the Arab-drafted resolution. The initial draft had called for an “immediate ceasefire,” while the adopted resolution calls for “an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”
The U.N. Security Council, a separate U.N. body, had failed four times in the past two weeks to reach an agreement on a resolution. Two proposed resolutions were vetoed and two failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes required for approval.
Unlike U.N. Security Council resolutions, which have the potential to be legally binding, the UNGA resolutions aren’t legally binding. However, United Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the Arab representative on the U.N. Security Council, told reporters that “they carry incredible weight and moral authority.”
She noted that the 10 elected U.N. Security Council members, who serve two-year terms, will take the “moral authority” from UNGA and try to break the gridlock on a council resolution.
The UNGA had earlier failed to obtain a two-thirds majority needed to pass a Canadian amendment to the resolution that was supported by the United States. That amendment, which drew 88 votes in favor, 55 against, and 23 abstentions, would have included an unequivocal rejection and condemnation of the Oct. 7 “terrorist attacks by Hamas ... and the taking of hostages” from Israel, as well as a demand to immediately release the hostages.
Resolution Stipulations
The Jordan-led resolution framed the situation in Gaza as “illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory” and has 14 key demands.Besides calling for the humanitarian truce, the document also called for “immediate, full, sustained, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access” to Gaza for various U.N. humanitarian agencies and their partners who are seeking to deliver “urgent assistance to civilians in the Gaza Strip.”
The text emphasized and reiterated multiple times the importance of ensuring that civilians in the Gaza Strip are safe and stated that the civilians should be able to access essential supplies and humanitarian assistance, as well as be able to move around safely.
The resolution demanded that Israel—referred to in the resolution as “the occupying Power“—rescind its order ”for Palestinian civilians and United Nations staff, as well as humanitarian and medical workers, to evacuate all areas in the Gaza Strip north of the Wadi Gaza and relocate ... to southern Gaza.”
Separately, the measure also “firmly rejects any attempts at the forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population.”
The document separately calls “for the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians who are being illegally held captive, demanding their safety, well-being, and humane treatment in compliance with international law.” However, it doesn’t explicitly mention the more than 200 hostages Hamas said it had kidnapped from Israel.
The resolution stresses “the particularly grave impact that armed conflict has on women and children, including as refugees and displaced persons, as well as on other civilians who may have specific vulnerabilities, including persons with disabilities and older persons.”
It also emphasizes “the importance of preventing further destabilization and escalation of violence in the region,” and calls upon all parties to “exercise maximum restraint.”
Israel Vows to Continue Attacks on Hamas
Riyad H. Mansour, Palestinian envoy to the U.N., said he was “grateful to all the countries that voted in support” of the resolution.“We are one in seeking an end to the killing, the trauma and terror, the destruction. This, of course, is not something that the representative of the occupying power would ever understand,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, called the UNGA vote “a day that will go down in infamy.”
“Israel has the right to defend itself, and the realization of this right is to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. The only way, the only way to ensure this is the eradication of Hamas’s terror capabilities. The only way. Yet this resolution does not even name Hamas, as if this war started on its own,” Mr. Erdan said after the vote.
“Israel will not stop the operation until Hamas terror capabilities are destroyed and our hostages are returned. ... The only way to destroy Hamas is to root them out of their tunnels and subterranean city of terror,” he said.
“Why are you defending murderers? Why are you defending terrorists that deliberately beheaded children and abducted baby babies? What is going on here? This must make each of you ask yourselves what the true aim was when this resolution was submitted.
“Yet this dangerous resolution demands that Israel call for Gazans to return, return to this active war zone. Is the goal here to further endanger human lives? This ridiculous resolution has the audacity to call for a truce. The goal of this resolution’s truce is that Israel should cease to defend itself [against] Hamas, so Hamas can light us on fire.
“Israel is closely monitoring the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and we know that there is no humanitarian crisis in accordance with international humanitarian law. Trusting the reports coming out of Gaza is exactly like trusting reports from ISIS.”
By ISIS, Mr. Erdan was referring to the terrorist organization in Syria.
‘Expanding’ Ground Operations in Gaza
On Oct. 27, Israel announced that it would be “expanding” ground operations in Gaza. Israeli officials have, for weeks, signaled that a ground invasion of Gaza would be coming. Israel had on Oct. 12 encouraged some 1.1 million people in Gaza—almost half the population—to move south.The Israeli military had, weeks ago, disclosed plans to target Hamas’s sprawling tunnel network beneath Gaza City, which the terrorists use and is shielded by civilian structures above. Hamas, on the other hand, vowed to fight to the last drop of blood and instructed Gazan residents to refrain from evacuating the area.
The issuance of the UNGA resolution came on the same day that Iran’s foreign minister accused the U.S. government of “managing the genocide in Palestine“ and warned that the United States will ”not be spared from the fire” if Israel keeps bombarding Gaza.
“I warn if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire. It is our home and West Asia is our region,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said. “We do not compromise with any party and any side and have no reservations when it comes to our home’s security.”
He noted that Hamas is prepared to release the “civilian prisoners” as a result of Iran’s negotiations with the group.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby has said that the United States does support a pause in Israeli military activity in Gaza to get humanitarian aid, fuel, and electricity to civilians there. He also said the United States would support a localized temporary pause to secure the release of more than 200 hostages who were abducted to Gaza by Hamas.
