The UN has overwhelmingly demanded a humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, amid an increased and “unprecedented” bombing campaign by Israel against the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations General Assembly in New York voted 120 to 14 on Friday in favor of the non-binding resolution calling for an “immediate, lasting and sustained humanitarian ceasefire leading to a cessation of hostilities” in the bloodiest conflict between Hamas and Israel in decades. .
The resolution, which 45 states abstained from voting on, also called for “the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians illegally held,” although it did not name Hamas as the kidnappers.
The General Assembly also “resolutely rejects all attempts to forcibly relocate the Palestinian civilian population.”
The resolution angered Israel, with its envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, accusing the international community of supporting “Nazi terrorists”, referring to Hamas.
The United Nations General Assembly voted 120 to 14 on Friday to adopt the non-binding resolution
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He said the international body had no legitimacy or relevance, adding that the only way to destroy Hamas was to “remove them from their tunnels and destroy their underground city of terror.”
Among those who voted against the bill were Israel and the US, which said today they support a pause in Israeli military operations in Gaza to bring humanitarian aid, fuel and electricity to civilians there.
White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday that if removing hostages from Gaza requires a local temporary pause, the United States would support that.
He added: “We do not draw red lines for Israel. We continue to support them.
“Since the very beginning, we have and will continue to have conversations about how they do this.”
The successful bill came alongside a failed Canadian-backed amendment that would have included a rejection and condemnation of “terrorist attacks by Hamas… and the taking of hostages.”
It failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority, but instead received 88 votes in favor, 55 against and 23 abstentions.
Israel and the UN have been at odds since the deadly Hamas attacks on October 7.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari (pictured) said at a press conference today: ‘In recent hours we have increased attacks in Gaza. The air force attacks underground targets and terrorist infrastructure on a large scale, very significantly’
Hamas accused Israel of stepping up its rocket attacks to “commit massacres with bloody retaliatory strikes from the air, land and sea.”
Gaza has been bombed non-stop for almost three weeks in a row
This week the country stopped issuing visas to UN officials after taking offense at comments from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres suggesting that Israel was partly responsible for the deadly October 7 attacks.
Erdan told Israeli media at the time: “Because of his comments, we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives.
“We have already refused a visa to Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson.”
Following the comments, which Guterres said were taken out of context and mischaracterized, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled a meeting with him.
It was also reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to answer several calls from Guterres since Hamas attacked earlier this month.