After days of struggle, the UN Security Council issued a resolution calling for an increase in humanitarian aid for around two million people in need in the Gaza Strip. The most powerful UN body adopted a significantly watered-down compromise text in New York on Friday. In total, 13 of the 15 countries voted for the text, In addition to the USA, Russia abstained.
On the controversial issue of how relief supplies should be checked, the council members agreed: appoint a responsible UN coordinator. This should also ensure that deliveries are accelerated in collaboration with all stakeholders. The Council further demands that humanitarian goods flow into the Gaza Strip through all available border crossings.
However, other passages were deleted due to pressure from the USA: A paragraph that condemns “all violations of international humanitarian law, including all arbitrary attacks on civilians and civilian objects” is no longer found in the resolution. The previously requested immediate suspension of violence to enable aid deliveries is also missing.
As a result of Israel's warfare over the past ten weeks, the humanitarian situation for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip is dramatic. A recent UN study concludes that 577,000 people in the sealed-off coastal strip fall into the most severe category of hunger. In contrast, there are currently 129,000 people in the rest of the world who are at similar risk. Almost everyone in the Gaza Strip is suffering from hunger or displacement. Israel sealed off and attacked the Gaza Strip after the horrific terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on October 7th.
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