With the United Nations Security Council deadlocked on the war between Israel and Hamas, the General Assembly prepared to vote Friday on a non-binding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce.”
Israel has already rejected the draft resolution that Jordan has proposed in the name of 22 Arab countries, as the war entered its 21st day, reports AFP.
Jordan wants the assembly to vote at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT), calling the situation urgent, even though some 100 countries were still due to speak in a debate that began yesterday morning.
The schedule has been accepted by the rest of the 193-member assembly, which decided to act after the divided Security Council failed to agree on four draft resolutions in two weeks.
The Jordanian draft, which needs the support of two-thirds of the member states that are present and voting in order to pass, calls for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”
An earlier version called for an “immediate ceasefire.”
Israel has bombarded Gaza heavily since Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 220 others, according to Israeli officials.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, in an update on Friday, said the strikes had now killed 7,326 people, mainly civilians and many of them children.
The draft written by Jordan and co-sponsored by around 40 other countries centers largely on the dire humanitarian situation in sealed-off Gaza as Israel presses on with its bombardment.
The document urges “immediate” provision of water, food, medical supplies, fuel and electricity and unhindered access for UN and other humanitarian agencies trying to help the Palestinians.
The draft condemns “all acts of violence aimed at Palestinian and Israeli civilians, including all acts of terrorism and indiscriminate attacks” but it does not mention Hamas.
This absence was denounced by Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who said Thursday “the only place this resolution belongs is in the dustbin of history.”
Canada has proposed an amendment that “unequivocally rejects and condemns the terrorist attacks by Hamas” on October 7 and the group’s seizure of hostages, and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of captives.
