UN Security Council passes resolution on Gaza aid delivery as US, Russia abstain

The resolution, which calls for steps “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”, passed on Friday with 13 votes in favour, none against, and the US and Russia abstaining.

The vote came amid international calls to bring the months-long conflict to an end, as Israeli soldiers pummel Gaza with one of the most destructive campaigns in modern history and humanitarian conditions in the besieged strip reach critical levels.

More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, and conditions under Israeli siege and bombardment have been described by UN officials as “hell on earth”.

Intense negotiations took place over the last week, with other member states searching for language that would avoid US objections that have doomed previous resolutions on Gaza in the 15-member body, where the US is one of five countries that hold a veto.

The original draft called for “an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities” and gave the UN increased control over aid deliveries into Gaza. The adopted resolution opts for less equivocal language on a ceasefire and maintains Israel’s control over all aid.

“This was tough, but we got there,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said following the vote.

While a trickle of aid trucks have delivered much-needed assistance to Gaza, aid groups say that truly addressing the strip’s humanitarian crisis will not be possible as long as hostilities continue.

“The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza. An effective aid operation in Gaza requires security, staff who can work in safety, logistical capacity, and the resumption of commercial activity. These four elements do not exist,” UN chief Antonio Guterres told reporters following the vote.

Before the vote, Russia proposed an amendment strengthening the language around a ceasefire, saying that the draft resolution had been “neutered” by the US.

“By signing off on this, the council would essentially be giving the Israeli armed forces complete freedom of movement for further clearing of the Gaza Strip,” Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council before the vote.

Thomas-Greenfield accused her Russian counterpart of hypocrisy, pointing to Russia’s own destructive invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.

But the US has faced accusations of a double-standard over its position on Gaza, with critics saying that the US has spent months railing against Russia for violations of international law in Ukraine while providing Israel with weapons and diplomatic support, even as it faces similar accusations over its conduct in Gaza.

The US vetoed a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire earlier this month, and was one of the few dissenting votes when the UN General Assembly passed a ceasefire resolution by an overwhelming margin last week.

Earlier this week, the UN called for an investigation into allegations of the killing of unarmed Palestinians by Israeli troops in the strip, and hospitals, UN schools, medical workers, mosques, and churches have also been targeted.

Israel has said that it is working to dismantle Hamas, the Palestinian armed group that governs Gaza and launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed more than 1,000 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 captive.

More than 20,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed since the current round of fighting began.

Hamas announced the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza is “an insufficient step”, given that it did not include an international resolution to stop the war.

In a statement released on its official website, Hamas said the UN resolution “does not meet the requirements of the catastrophic situation” created by Israel, “especially since it did not include an international resolution to stop the genocidal war waged by the terrorist occupation entity against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”.

Hamas has repeatedly called for Israel to end its military operation in Gaza.

Hamas also slammed the position of the United States, which abstained from the UNSC vote.

“During the past five days, the American administration has worked hard to empty this resolution of its essence, and to issue it in this weak formula,” the statement read.

“It is the duty of the UN Security Council to oblige the occupation to bring aid in sufficient quantities into all areas of the Gaza Strip, especially the areas of the northern Gaza Strip,” Hamas added, claiming that Israel has caused “daily massacres” in northern Gaza and created conditions for starvation.