The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed resolutions calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and expressing support for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, which Israel has sought to ban.
The votes in the 193-nation world body were 158-9, with 13 abstentions to demand a cease-fire now and 159-9 with 11 abstentions in support of the agency known as UNRWA.
The votes culminated two days of speeches overwhelmingly calling for an end to Israel's 14-month genocidal war and demanding access throughout Gaza to address the growing humanitarian catastrophe.
Israel and its close ally, the United States, were in a tiny minority speaking and voting against the resolutions. Other opposing both resolutions included Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.
While Security Council resolutions are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions are not, though they do reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly.
The Palestinians and their supporters went to the General Assembly after the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution on Nov. 20 demanding an immediate Gaza cease-fire.
It was supported by the council’s 14 other members but the U.S. objected that it was not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken during the Hamas incursion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war.
The Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour expressed gratitude for the overwhelming support for both resolutions Wednesday, saying the votes "reflect the resolve and the determination of the international community."
"We will keep knocking on the doors of the Security Council and the General Assembly until we see an immediate and unconditional cease-fire put in place and until we see humanitarian assistance being distributed at scale in all corners of the Gaza Strip," he said.
The language of the resolution adopted by the assembly on a cease-fire mirrors the text of the vetoed council resolution. It demands "an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties," while also reiterating a "demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."
That language is much stronger than General Assembly resolutions adopted on Oct. 27, 2023 – three weeks after the Hamas attack – calling for an immediate and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities and on Dec. 12, 2023, demanding "an immediate humanitarian cease-fire."
US left alone
The resolution adopted Wednesday also marked the first time Germany and Italy, who abstained last December, voted in favor of a Gaza cease-fire. Their support left the United States as the only member of the Group of 7 major industrialized nations still opposed.
On the humanitarian front, the resolution rejects "any effort to starve Palestinians" and demands immediate access to civilians to provide aid indispensable to their survival.
The second resolution backs the mandate of UNRWA, which was established by the General Assembly in 1949.
It deplores laws adopted by Israel’s parliament on Oct. 28 banning UNRWA’s activities in the Palestinian territories, a measure to take effect in 90 days.
It reiterates U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ statements that UNRWA is "the backbone" of all humanitarian operations in Gaza and no organization can replace it. And it reaffirms the necessity for UNRWA’s continued "unimpeded operation."
The resolution calls on the Israeli government "to abide by its international obligations, respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA" and uphold its responsibility to facilitate the unhindered delivery of aid humanitarian assistance throughout the entire Gaza Strip.
Israel alleges that around a dozen of UNRWA’s 13,000 workers in Gaza participated in the Hamas incursion on Israel that precipitated the war. It recently provided the U.N. with over 100 names of UNRWA staff it accuses of having Hamas ties.
U.S. deputy U.N. ambassador, Robert Wood, reiterated America’s opposition to the cease-fire resolution ahead of Wednesday’s vote and criticized the Palestinians for again failing to mention the Oct. 7 incursion.
The Hamas attack caused around 1,200 deaths and saw another 250 abducted as hostages, of whom 100 have not returned and a third of them believed to be dead. Cease-fire efforts have ground to a halt.
Israel’s genocidal war, in comparison, has killed nearly 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the local Health Ministry.
Slovenia’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Zbogar, reflecting the views of many speakers, pointed to the tens of thousands killed in Gaza.
"Gaza doesn’t exist anymore," he told the assembly Wednesday. "It is destroyed. Civilians are facing hunger, despair and death."