New York, SANA- The UN Security Council has passed a resolution drafted by Arab nations, which is aimed at making it easier to get humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, after the US used its veto to thwart a Russian amendment to a draft resolution in the Council demanding an end to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
The UAE-proposed draft resolution called for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.
A total of 13 countries voted for the resolution. The document required nine votes to pass, provided that none of the permanent members of the UN Security Council voted against it.
“The Russian Federation suggests the following oral amendment <…> . It calls for an immediate suspension of hostilities so as to provide safe and unimpeded humanitarian access and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said at the Security Council meeting.
“How the text [of the resolution] is worded now is the main thing that the United States seeks in this resolution. A cunning phrase containing the words ‘to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities’ means untying Israel’s hands for further unending and unrestrained indiscriminate bombing of the civilian infrastructure of Gaza’s civilian population,” the Russian diplomat added.
This is the fifth time that Washington has prevented the Security Council from adopting a resolution to stop the aggression. On October 16th, it obstructed Russia’s draft resolution, then two days later used its veto against a Brazilian draft resolution, and on October 25, it blocked Russia’s draft resolution again, then used Veto against a draft Emirati resolution on the 8th of this month.
Speaking before the vote, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UAE highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, warning over risks of a looming famine.
She noted that the draft resolution is the “product of extensive consultations and engagement between members of the Council, and concerned parties in particular Egypt and Palestine.”
“The purpose of this text is very simple, it responds with action to the dire humanitarian situation on the ground for the Palestinian people bearing the brunt of this conflict while protecting those trying to deliver lives-saving aid,” she said.