The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban.
The 193-member General Assembly voted Wednesday at the 10th emergency special session to adopt the draft resolution ‘Demand for ceasefire in Gaza’, introduced by Indonesia.
India was among the 158 nations that voted in favour of the resolution while nine member states, including Israel and the US, voted against it. Among the 13 nations that abstained were Albania and Ukraine.
The resolution demanded an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
It demanded that the parties fully, unconditionally and without delay implement all the provisions of the Security Council resolution of June 2024 regarding an “immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners, the return of the remains of hostages who have been killed, the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes and neighbourhoods in all areas of Gaza, including in the north, and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.”
The resolution demanded immediate access by the civilian population in the Gaza Strip to basic services and humanitarian assistance indispensable to its survival, while “rejecting any effort to starve Palestinians”.
It further demanded the facilitation of full, rapid, safe and unhindered entry of humanitarian assistance, at scale and under the coordination of the United Nations, to and throughout the Gaza Strip and its delivery to all Palestinian civilians who need it, including to civilians in besieged north Gaza, who are in urgent need of immediate humanitarian relief.
It also demanded that the parties fully comply with their obligations under international law in relation to persons they detain, including by releasing all those arbitrarily detained.
It called upon all parties to fully comply with international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians, especially women and children.
It reiterated its unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution, with the Gaza Strip as part of the Palestinian State, and where two democratic States, Palestine and Israel, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions.
The resolution rejected any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of the Gaza Strip, and stressed the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
Last week, India voted in favour of a General Assembly resolution that called for the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, and reiterated the call for achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
The draft resolution ‘Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine’ tabled by Senegal was overwhelmingly adopted in the 193-member General Assembly Tuesday.
India was among the 157 nations that voted in favour, while eight Member States - Argentina, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the United States voted against it. Cameroon, Czechia, Ecuador, Georgia, Paraguay, Ukraine and Uruguay abstained.
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