United Nations Security Council at UN world headquarters in New York

-DIPLOMATIC  TIMES  STAFF

The UN Security Council passed a resolution Friday on unhindered humanitarian aid to Gaza by 13 votes, with the U.S. and Russia abstaining.  The resolution does not include any language calling for a ceasefire in hostilities.

“I hope that today’s Security Council resolution may help improve the delivery of much-needed aid but a humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare.”

 -UN  Secretary-General António Guterres.

The UN Chief noted that 4 out of 5 of the hungriest people anywhere in the world are in Gaza.  The Council demanded that the parties “allow, facilitate and enable” the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip. 

Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine, said Palestinians are dying everyday since the conflict began.   He said the Security Council first met to address the crisis when hundreds of Palestinians had been killed by Israel.    “The Council is now meeting after over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, almost half of them children and 60,000 wounded, and two million Palestinians have been forcefully displaced,” he said, adding that it is meeting now as homes, shelters, schools and hospitals have been destroyed, and as hunger and disease are spreading “like wildfire”.  Mansour said bombings by Israel are “an attempt at the destruction of our people and their displacement forever from their land…this is Israel’s goal, its true objective, no future for Palestinians in Palestine.”

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the resolution was “a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of unimaginable suffering”.  However, the U.S. ambassador expressed disappointment the resolution failed to condemn Hamas.  “Now, I’ll note that the resolution is not perfect. We were appalled that some Council members still refuse to condemn Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on October 7th, which set so much heartbreak and suffering in motion. We will continue to push the Council to right this wrong”, she told reporters during a press briefing after the vote. The U.S. and Israel have been on the same page regarding their desire for the Security Council to condemn Hamas.

Brett Jonathan Miller, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Israel, said while it took the Security Council one day to condemn a terrorist attack against police officers in Iran, 77 days have passed since Hamas attacked and murdered 1,300 civilians in Israel and took 250 hostages, “this Council still has yet to issue a single statement condemning Hamas and their atrocities.”

Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia of the Russian Federation expressed regret that the Security Council did not find the “courage ” to support at least the minimum call for an end to the violence in Gaza, and it instead signed up for a “license to kill” Palestinian civilians. The Russian ambassador noted that it did not veto the resolution because a number of Arab states supported it.  

“This is a tragic moment for the Council, not a moment of triumph for multilateral diplomacy, but rather one of gross unprincipled blackmail and open scorn on part of Washington for the suffering of Palestinians and the hopes of the global community,”  the Russian ambassador said.