The UN Security Council has approved a resolution calling for \u201chumanitarian pauses and corridors\u201d in war-torn Gaza, a long-awaited diplomatic breakthrough after weeks of bitter negotiations. <\/p>\n
Twelve countries voted to approve the measure, with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia abstaining. <\/p>\n
The resolution called <\/strong>for \u201curgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable, consistent with international humanitarian law, the full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access for United Nations humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners.\u201d <\/p>\n The International Rescue Committee has said humanitarian groups need a minimum ceasefire of five days in order to do vital work to restore basic services and necessities for Gaza\u2019s over 2 million civilians. US President Joe Biden also said last week that he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for \u201ca pause for a lot more than three days.\u201d <\/p>\n Gaza has been under siege since October 7, when Israel closed exit points from the Palestinian enclave, cut it off from food, water and electricity, and began an intensive campaign of airstrikes in retaliation for lethal terror attacks carried out by Palestinian militant group Hamas,\u00a0which killed an estimated 1,200 people and also saw\u00a0about 240 taken hostage. <\/p>\n The offensive in Gaza has escalated in recent weeks with expanding ground operations in Gaza\u2019s north, from which civilians have been instructed to evacuate along \u00a0approved routes in short windows. <\/p>\n The <\/strong>resolution also called for the release of \u201call hostages held by Hamas and other groups, especially children\u201d and for all parties to \u201crefrain from depriving the civilian population in the Gaza strip of basic services and humanitarian assistance.\u201d <\/p>\n The resolution, drafted by Malta, had already received the backing of the UN\u2019s 22-member Arab Group. <\/p>\n Lior Haiat, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said after the vote that \u201cIsrael calls on the Security Council and the international community to insist on the release of all Israeli hostages quickly as the resolution stipulates.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIsrael expects the Security Council to condemn Hamas unequivocally and address the need to create a different security reality in Gaza. There is no room for prolonged humanitarian truces as long as 239 hostages are in the hands of Hamas terrorists,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Monsour acknowledged that the council is \u201cfinally acting,\u201d but said that it should have called for a ceasefire. He also criticized its lack of condemnation for the deaths of civilians and humanitarian workers. <\/p>\n In a statement, the International Rescue Committee called the vote \u201can important first step.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIt is now incumbent upon all parties to the conflict, and all UN member states to do everything in their power to help turn these words into action,\u201d the statement continued. <\/p>\n The UN, created to maintain global peace and security, remains the nerve center of frenetic attempts to create peace in the Middle East, but has run into repeated roadblocks over the past month, notably from the United States, as the death toll climbed. <\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s vote was the Security Council\u2019s\u00a0fifth\u00a0attempt to pass a resolution on Israel\u2019s war with Hamas, which controls Gaza. Two resolutions proposed by Russia failed to gain enough votes, while United States, a steadfast backer of Israel\u2019s right to defend itself, vetoed a Brazilian resolution calling for a humanitarian pause. The US\u2019s own call for a pause was vetoed by Russia and China. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of pressure on the council to react, but the council has these difficulties: It\u2019s a body trapped at the crossings of different red lines; an insect trapped on a spider\u2019s web and the web is composed of different red lines,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n As deliberations dragged on, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 11,255 Palestinians since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, drawing from sources in Hamas-controlled Gaza. The ministry also said that 4,630 of the dead are children. <\/p>\n UAE Ambassador to the UN Lana Nusseibeh, speaking ahead of the vote Wednesday, said that \u201cprotection of children\u201d was the \u201cNorth Star that has guided this council\u2019s approach on this draft.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThis text is also what humanitarian actors have consistently called for as the bare minimum for them to be able to do their lifesaving work. The resolution means in real time, enough time and space for search and rescue operations to save those children who are buried under the rubble,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n The Health Ministry said Tuesday it was having significant difficulties obtaining updated information because of the parlous state of communications in Gaza. <\/p>\n Pleas from the UN\u2019s top figures have grown pointed over the weeks. Though limited aid has been allowed to enter Gaza, the UN\u2019s Secretary General Antonio Guterres has described it as \u201ca trickle\u201d and \u201ca drop in the ocean.\u201d The UN\u2019s emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths on Wednesday said the \u201ccarnage\u201d in Gaza could not be allowed to continue. <\/p>\n Volker T\u00fcrk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, accused both Hamas and Israel of committing war crimes. \u201cThe atrocities perpetrated by Palestinian armed groups on October 7 were heinous, brutal and shocking, they were war crimes \u2013 as is the continued holding of hostages,\u201d he said last week. <\/p>\n \u201cThe collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime, as does the unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n Israel says it tries to mitigate harm to civilians in its pursuit of Hamas, and accuses the group of hiding behind civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. Hamas denies the claim. <\/p>\n In a measure of global sentiment, over 120 countries last month voted for a \u201csustained humanitarian truce\u201d leading to a cessation of hostilities at the United Nations General Assembly. But the vote in that body is nonbinding, unlike a mandatory Security Council vote. <\/p>\n\n The UN Security Council has approved a resolution calling for \u201chumanitarian pauses and corridors\u201d in war-torn Gaza, a long-awaited diplomatic breakthrough after weeks of bitter negotiations. Twelve countries voted to approve the measure, with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia abstaining. The resolution called for \u201curgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Trapped in a \u2018spiderweb\u2019 of red lines<\/h2>\n