Israel / Palestine

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday adopted a major resolution on the Gaza crisis, calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”

The EU is to call for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” of the shelling in Gaza to allow food, water and medical supplies to reach Palestinians, according to its latest draft text. An official declaration will be issued after a summit of leaders of the bloc’s 27 members in Brussels on Thursday.

China and Russia on Wednesday vetoed a draft resolution sponsored by the United States, while a second Russian-backed resolution failed to secure sufficient votes in favour, deepening the Security Council’s deadlock over any unified response to address the crisis in Gaza and Israel.

The UN Secretary-General on Wednesday firmly rebuked what he described as the “false” claim by top Israeli diplomats that he had sought to justify the terror attacks of 7 October by Hamas in a speech he delivered to the Security Council. 

Israel has rejected calls from the UN secretary-general, Palestinians and a number of countries for a cease-fire. At the UN Security Council meeting, earlier remarks by UN chief Antonio Guterres on the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel drew a furious Israeli response.

Humanitarians continued to stand ready on Thursday to deliver lifesaving aid to Gaza following reports of an agreement brokered by the United States for 20 aid trucks to enter the enclave from Egypt.

UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland on Wednesday highlighted the need for an inquiry into the strike against a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds, including patients, staff and displaced people seeking shelter. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that attacks by militant group Hamas on Israel did not justify the "collective punishment" of Palestinians, and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Protests erupted Wednesday throughout the Middle East against Israel and its key ally, the United States, after an explosion killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital in the single deadliest incident of the Israel-Hamas war.

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza. The failure by the Council to make its first public intervention on the Israel-Gaza crisis followed the rejection of a Russian-backed draft on Monday evening.