UN General Assembly adopts resolution calling for humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza Strip

According to CNN, the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has just passed a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The resolution was adopted at the 10th Emergency Session of the UN General Assembly on the Gaza crisis.

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At the voting session, the resolution sponsored by Egypt, representing the group of Arab countries, received 153 votes in favor, 10 votes against and 23 abstentions.

The resolution calls for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and the immediate and unconditional release of hostages. Egyptian Ambassador Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud said the resolution was adopted and implemented solely to protect the lives of innocent civilians. Additions by Austria and the United States to the resolution, which directly condemned the Hamas militant group, failed to receive the required number of votes.

The emergency session of the UN General Assembly took place in the context of the war between Israel and the Hamas Islamist movement showing no signs of cooling down, while the UN Security Council continued to be deadlocked in finding a unified action to find a way out of the crisis.

President Dennis Francis said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was worsening, and once again called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, stressing the urgent task of ending all acts of violence and hostility against innocent civilians.

Aid is delivered to the Gaza Strip. Photo: AP

The UN World Food Programme estimates that half of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip are food insecure since the conflict began on October 7. The UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) says 18% of Gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed since the conflict began.

People in the Gaza Strip evacuate after the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out. Photo: Reuters

In another development, according to Reuters news agency, speaking at a campaign fundraising event in Washington, US President Joe Biden said that Israel is starting to lose the support of the international community, after the country bombed the Gaza Strip, killing thousands of Palestinians.

President Biden also said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to change Israel's current hard-line government. According to him, the Israeli government does not want a two-state solution, a direction that Washington has called for after the Hamas-Israel conflict broke out.