UN Security Council to vote on new resolution demanding ceasefire, aid access to Gaza
The United Nations Security Council may vote as early as Monday on a new call for a ceasefire in Gaza and a demand that Israel and Hamas allow access to Gaza for humanitarian aid and to set up UN monitoring of the assistance delivered, Reuters reports.
The resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, demands access to the Hamas-ruled enclave via land, sea and air routes.
The draft text, Reuters reports, currently “calls for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access.”
The US is looking to amend the language on the cessation of hostilities, diplomats tells Reuters.
“We have engaged constructively and transparently throughout the entire process in an effort to unite around a product that will pass,” says a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The UAE knows exactly what can pass and what cannot — it is up to them if they want to get this done.”
Diplomats say the fate of the resolution depends on final negotiations between the US, which has veto power, and the UAE.
The US recently used its veto power to nix a resolution earlier this month, backed by almost all other Security Council members and many other nations, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
But Washington has also been pressing Israel to wrap up the current phase of “high intensity” fighting in Gaza quickly and to bring an end to its ferocious military campaign in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 shock assault on Israel, and instead focus more on pinpoint operations.
Israeli leaders, however, have continued to vow that the IDF would push ahead with the military offensive in Gaza until Hamas’s defeat.
The UN and other world bodies have warned of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza following over three months of war.
The report on the UNSC draft resolution demanding aid access to Gaza comes a day after videos circulating on social media showed gunmen, reportedly Hamas operatives, stealing trucks delivering humanitarian aid from Egypt, as aid convoys also started entering the Palestinian enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing for the first time since the outbreak of the war on October 7.
In the videos, masked and armed men can be seen sitting on top of the humanitarian supplies — usually food, water, medicine and fuel — as the trucks drive deeper into the Strip.
Hebrew-language media reported the men were affiliated with the Hamas terror group that rules the coastal enclave.
In October, the United Nations organization that works with Palestinian refugees and their descendants indicated that Hamas authorities in Gaza had stolen fuel and medical supplies meant for refugees, though the posts were later deleted.
