Breakthrough on Gaza war in the UN Security Council?
The UN Security Council could meet today to vote on a new humanitarian resolution on the war in Gaza. A draft submitted by Malta calls, among other things, for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days" to ensure humanitarian assistance in accordance with international law. The draft resolution is available to the German Press Agency.
A deadline for the members of the most powerful UN body to propose amendments should expire at 16:30 CET. If there are no objections by then, diplomats in New York expect a vote today. The planned time is 21:00 CET.
Resolutions in the Security Council are binding under international law and can therefore have a certain impact.
This does not mean that adoption is certain. For Israel's ally, the USA, in particular, it is not clear whether it could tolerate the call for days of ceasefire by abstaining. Like China, Russia, France and the UK, the United States has a right of veto. The Council also has ten member states elected for a two-year term.
The UN Security Council has been struggling for weeks to find a text that the body can agree on. So far, however, drafts have failed due to vetoes by the USA on the one hand and Russia and China on the other. The UN General Assembly, with its 193 members, passed a resolution that was significantly more critical of Israel by a large majority at the end of October. Germany abstained at the time. This resolution is not binding under international law.
The proposed resolution by Malta in the UN Security Council includes a call for urgent cease fires and humanitarian corridors in the Gaza Strip, aiming to provide necessary aid in line with international law. However, the USA's stance on tolerating a call for days of ceasefire by abstaining remains unclear, as they, alongside other veto-holding nations like China, Russia, France, and the UK, have the power to block the resolution.
Source: www.dpa.com
