United Nations:

The UN Common Meeting overwhelmingly handed a non-binding decision Tuesday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza — taking the lead from the paralyzed Safety Council, and piling strain on Israel and Washington.

The physique, which incorporates all 193 UN member nations, voted 153 in favor of the decision — exceeding the 140 or so nations which have routinely backed resolutions condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Ten nations together with the US and Israel voted towards, whereas 23 abstained.

The vote within the Common Meeting got here after the Safety Council — chargeable for world peace and safety — has repeatedly did not make such a name.

On Friday, the US, Israel’s strongest ally and considered one of solely 5 everlasting members of the Safety Council, wielded its veto to halt the newest draft textual content calling for a truce.

The Council took greater than a month after the beginning of the struggle between Israel and Hamas militants to talk out — and it did so with a weak voice, calling in mid-November after 4 rejected texts for humanitarian “pauses” within the battle.

“These tragic makes an attempt are a despicable signal of double requirements,” Egypt’s ambassador to the UN Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud stated of Washington’s efforts to supply Israel diplomatic cowl forward of the vote within the Common Meeting.

UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres has warned of a looming “full breakdown of public order” within the besieged Gaza Strip.

Many nations and human rights organizations condemned final Friday’s Safety Council failure, and Guterres on Sunday described the Council’s authority and credibility as “undermined.”

“We agree the humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza is dire,” stated Washington’s ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield forward of Tuesday’s vote.

“It is the diplomacy that the US is partaking in on the bottom that made that week-long humanitarian pause potential,” she stated, referring to the one lull within the combating to this point, which befell final month.

Thomas-Greenfield urged nations to again an modification to Tuesday’s decision that might have condemned Hamas, however that was voted down.

She additionally referred to as on Israel “to keep away from mass displacement of civilians within the south of Gaza,” however stated Israel was pursuing “authentic army aims.”

Forward of the vote, Israel’s consultant to the UN Gilad Erdan decried what he stated was a “hypocritical decision.”

“Not solely does it fail to sentence Hamas for its crimes towards humanity — it would not point out Hamas in any respect,” he stated.

– ‘Catastrophic’ –

Israeli air and land assaults proceed to pummel Gaza, greater than two months after the bloody and unprecedented assault perpetrated by Hamas fighters on Israeli soil on October 7.

Some 1,200 Israelis have been killed within the preliminary assault, whereas the Hamas-run well being ministry in Gaza says greater than 18,400 Palestinians have died in Israel’s bombardment since.

Arab nations had referred to as for the brand new particular session of the Common Meeting, in search of to construct strain simply after a go to to the Rafah border level by greater than a dozen Safety Council ambassadors.

The textual content that was handed on Tuesday largely reproduced the decision blocked within the Council on Friday by the US.

Expressing concern on the “catastrophic humanitarian state of affairs within the Gaza Strip,” it “calls for a right away humanitarian ceasefire,” and requires the safety of civilians, humanitarian entry, and the “speedy and unconditional” launch of all hostages.

Forward of vote, the prime ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand — shut allies of Israel in addition to the US — stated in a joint assertion that “we’re alarmed on the diminishing secure house for civilians in Gaza.”

“The value of defeating Hamas can’t be the continual struggling of all Palestinian civilians,” they stated.

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)