The United Nations Security Council finally adopted a resolution urging the delivery of more humanitarian aid and access to Gaza, which has been devastated by ruthless Israeli attacks, after days of delays and negotiations.
The resolution calls for "urgent steps" to immediately allow "safe, unhindered, and expanded" humanitarian access to Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli offensive on the strip.
After several days of intense negotiations and nail-biting delays, the resolution submitted by the United Arab Emirates passed by a vote of 13-0, with the U.S. and Russia – both permanent council members – abstaining. Negotiations had dragged on all week amid Israel's U.S.-backed rejection of any explicit call for a cease-fire.
The resolution demands the parties to the conflict allow and facilitate the use of all available routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip, including border crossings, to ensure humanitarian personnel and assistance reach the civilian population in need.
The resolution requests that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appoint a "senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator" to expedite the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Gaza.
The vote was especially notable in that since Oct. 7, a number of Security Council resolutions on the conflict failed to pass due to vetoes by its permanent members, leading some world leaders and observers to question the council's effectiveness.
Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, resulting in 20,057 deaths and 53,320 wounded so far, most of them children and women. This has caused immense damage to infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to Palestinian and international sources.
'Imminent risk of famine'
The entire population of Gaza faces "an imminent risk of famine", according to a U.N.-backed global hunger monitoring system.
The "deprivation and destruction" of much of the narrow territory of 2.4 million inhabitants "will only bring more hunger, disease and despair to the people of Gaza," U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Russian aid
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Friday to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and urged a peaceful resolution to the fighting.
"Russia will continue to supply the Gaza Strip with essential goods, including medicines and medical equipment," Putin told Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas during a telephone call, the Kremlin said.