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Dominica has joined 153 countries from around the world in voting in favour of a resolution at the United Nations (UN) calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in war-torn Gaza. The draft resolution was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. The resolution was presented by Egypt with the support of 100 countries and it eventually passed with 153 countries, of the 193 which make up the General Assembly, voting in its favour.<\/p>\n
Ten countries, including the United States (US), Israel, and Austria, voted against the resolution, while 23 countries including the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, Italy and Ukraine abstained from voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank all those who supported the draft resolution that was just adopted by a huge majority,\u201d<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s UN ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil said after the vote. \u201cThis reflects the international position to call for the enforcement of this resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resolution is non-binding and carries no legal weight; however, it indicates what the rest of the world thinks about the ongoing conflict. Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said the vote marked “a historic day in terms of the powerful message that was sent from the General Assembly.”<\/p>\n
One of the sticking points before the resolution was adopted was the fact that it did not specifically condemn Hamas for its attack on Israel on October 7. Efforts were made to have it amended to include the condemnation of Hamas but the amendment failed.<\/p>\n
This prompted Israel\u2019s Permanent Representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan, to say that the General Assembly was \u201cabout to vote on another hypocritical resolution.”<\/p>\n
\u201cNot 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the only intention of Hamas is to destroy Israel and that the group has declared that it will repeat its atrocities again and again until Israel ceases to exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo why would anyone want to aid Hamas in continuing their rule of terror and actualizing their satanic agenda?\u201d he asked. \u201cWe 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.”<\/p>\n
The draft resolution also demanded the \u201cimmediate and unconditional release\u201d of all hostages as well as ensuring humanitarian access to the besieged enclave.<\/p>\n
It is reported that Hamas took about 240 hostages when it attacked Israel and took them to the Gaza Strip. During a weeklong truce in late November, 105 captives were released but it is believed that 138 are still being held.<\/p>\n
In addition to the cease-fire, the resolution expressed grave concern over what it described as the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of Palestinian civilians. It also pointed out that Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations “must be protected” per\u00a0international humanitarian law while demanding all parties to comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably concerning the protection of civilians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dominica has joined 153 countries from around the world in voting in favour of a resolution at the United Nations (UN) calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in war-torn Gaza. The draft resolution was adopted by the United Nations General…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":313829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,286,77,235,76,9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accidents-tragedy","category-governance","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-international-relations","category-news","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n