Israel-Gaza War: ‘Enormous humanitarian crisis,’ India supports ‘urgent ceasefire’, votes in favour of UNGA resolution

The United Nations General Assembly  (UNGA) has passed a resolution titled 'Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations,' urging an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

India supported the ceasefire resolution during the UNGA's emergency session on the Middle East on Tuesday (local time).

As reported by ANI, the resolution received approval from 153 nations, including India, while 10, including the US, Israel, and Austria, voted against it. Additionally, 23 countries, including Argentina, Ukraine, and Germany, chose to abstain from voting.

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The resolution demands an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and well as “ensuring humanitarian access.” It further demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including humanitarian law, about the protection of civilians.

Ruchira Kamboj, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, highlighted that on October 7, a terrorist attack took place in Israel. She emphasized the significant humanitarian crisis and widespread loss of human lives resulting from the incident.

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“India has voted in favour of the resolution just adopted by the General Assembly. The situation that this August body has been deliberating upon has many dimensions. There is the terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October and the concern for the hostages taken at that time. There is an enormous humanitarian crisis and a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially of women and children. There is the issue of observing international humanitarian law in all circumstances. And there is the endeavour to find a peaceful and lasting two-state solution to the longstanding Palestine question,” Kamboj said.

She said that India welcomes the unity of the international community in finding a common ground the address the multiple challenges faced by the region at present.

Ruchira Kamboj said, “Our challenge, in this extraordinarily difficult time, is to strike the right balance. The gravity and complexity of what the international community faces are underlined by the secretary general invoking Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations. We, therefore, welcome the fact that the international community unity has been able to find a common ground to address the multiple challenges facing the region right now.”

However, the amendment led by the United States to the draft resolution did not secure approval at the UN General Assembly. The vote results indicated that 84 nations supported the amendment, 62 voted against it, and 25 abstained.

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See voting here

In addition, an amendment to the draft resolution on the Gaza crisis, spearheaded by Austria, also faced defeat at the UN General Assembly. The voting outcome revealed that 89 nations favoured the amendment, 61 opposed it, and 20 chose to abstain.

Israel's Permanent Representative, Gilad Erdan, said, “The UN General Assembly finds itself about to vote on another hypocritical resolution.”

He said, “Not only does this resolution fail to condemn Hamas for crimes against humanity, it does not mention Hamas at all. This will only prolong the death and destruction in the region, that is precisely what a ceasefire means.”

ANI reported that Erdan said, “Hamas' only intention is to destroy Israel and the group has announced that it will repeat its atrocities again and again until Israel ceases to exist. He called for the need to hold Hamas accountable and added that a ceasefire means only one thing which is the ‘survival of Hamas.’”

He stressed, "So why would anyone want to aid Hamas in continuing their rule of terror and actualizing their satanic agenda?" He further said, “We all know that the so-called ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ in this resolution has nothing to do with humanity. Israel is already taking every measure to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Munir Akram, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, said it was a matter of “deep regret, that some friends of Israel have introduced amendments to once again condemn only one side but exonerate the other.”

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He said, “This is a war against the Palestinian people.” Akram further added, “Israel's goal is to erase not only a people but the entire idea of Palestine. Its campaign is a carbon copy of the massive campaigns of racial slaughter by other settler colonial regimes in history.”

The balloting occurs amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, now entering its third month. Health professionals and humanitarian organizations have raised alarms about the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

Israel has declared its intent to continue its military campaign until Hamas is completely dismantled. The military action was initiated by Israel in response to an attack by Hamas on October 7.

(With inputs from ANI)