This is the scene of the Security Council vote at the United Nations headquarters in New York on December 22. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Yi.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on December 22 with 13 votes in favor and 2 abstentions, calling for "immediate, safe and unhindered direct large-scale humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians throughout the Gaza Strip" and "creating conditions for a continued cessation of hostilities." After the adoption of the resolution, the Israeli side indicated that it would continue to inspect the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Council adopted a resolution.
Resolution 2720, adopted on the same day, requires parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate the use of all available routes to the entire Gaza Strip, to release detainees immediately and unconditionally, to meet the medical needs of all detainees, and to provide the Gaza Strip with fuel to meet essential humanitarian needs. The resolution also asks the UN Secretary-General to appoint a "Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator".
The resolution reaffirms the Council's unwavering commitment to the vision of a two-State solution and stresses the importance of the reunification of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
On December 17, a truck carrying humanitarian supplies from China arrived on the Gaza Strip side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yasser Cudi).
Dai Bing, chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said after the vote on 22 June that China welcomed the Security Council's vote to adopt the resolution. The achievement of a ceasefire remains the overriding prerequisite. China is ready to work with other members of the Security Council to continue to push the Security Council to take further responsible and meaningful actions in a timely manner, and continue to make unremitting efforts to calm the fighting in Gaza at an early date, earnestly implement the two-state solution and achieve peace and stability in the Middle East.
Repeated revisions have avoided a veto by the US side.
The members of the Council had held lengthy consultations on the content of the draft resolution over the past week, but the vote on the draft resolution had been postponed four times because of the opposition of the United States.
On the day of the vote, the United States and Russia abstained in the voting on the draft resolution, submitted by the United Arab Emirates. Before the vote, Russia proposed an amendment calling for the return of the wording "suspension of hostilities" in the original draft. The amendment received 10 votes in favour, 1 against and 4 abstentions, but it was not adopted because the United States exercised its veto power.
On December 20, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, people carry out rescue operations after an Israeli air strike. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yasser Cudi).
The original text of the resolution called for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities" in the Gaza Strip and gave the United Nations more control over the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip. Diplomatic sources told ** that the United States is opposed to the above.
On 8 July, the United States vetoed a draft resolution of the Security Council aimed at promoting a humanitarian ceasefire between Palestine and Israel, and many countries expressed disappointment and regret over this.
On 16 November, the members of the Council, by a vote of 12 in favour, none against and 3 abstentions, adopted a resolution sponsored by Malta calling for "the urgent implementation of a prolonged humanitarian moratorium and corridors of sufficient days". This is the first relevant resolution adopted by the Security Council in the 40 days since the outbreak of the new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Previously, none of the Council's four draft resolutions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict had been adopted.
Israel: Continued inspection of aid supplies.
After the United Nations Security Council adopted the above-mentioned resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the 22nd, Israeli Prime Minister Cohen posted on social media that Israel will continue to inspect all humanitarian aid supplies to the Gaza Strip for security reasons.
Cohen said Israel will continue its military operations in the Gaza Strip until all detainees are released and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is eliminated.
Guterres: In order to create a "huge obstacle" to aid
After the adoption of the resolution on the 22nd, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press conference that many people use the number of trucks unloaded at the Rafah crossing as a measure of the effectiveness of humanitarian relief in Gaza, which is wrong. The real problem is that the Israeli military offensive has created a formidable obstacle to the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York on December 22. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Yi.
He said that the effectiveness of humanitarian relief in Gaza depends on four things: the overall security environment, the physical safety of aid workers, the logistical capacity and the resumption of commercial activities, which are not available now. Israeli shelling of densely populated urban areas in the Gaza Strip and fighting there threatens the lives of civilians and aid workers. In the past 75 days, 136 United Nations staff members have been killed in the Gaza Strip. In the process of being forced to evacuate from northern Gaza in a hurry, many United Nations vehicles were destroyed or forcibly abandoned, but the Israeli side was not allowed to increase the number of trucks operating in the Gaza Strip. Frequent communication disruptions make it difficult to coordinate the distribution of relief supplies, and people don't know how to pick them up. In addition, restrictions on Israeli commercial activities have also greatly hampered the rescue operation.
More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed and 1.9 million have been forced to flee their homes, Guterres saidGaza's health system is nearly paralyzed, clean water is desperately scarce, and the World Food Programme has warned of the threat of widespread famine. A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to end the "ongoing nightmare" of the population in the Gaza Strip.
He noted that the spillover effects of the conflict were beginning to be felt in the periphery and the wider region, posing a growing threat to global peace and security. "...... in the midst of intensifying conflict and deepening fearWe will not give up. At the same time, the international community must stand up for peace, the protection of civilians and an end to suffering, and pledge to support the two-state solution with concrete actions. ”
*: Xinhua News Agency Guangzhou** New Flower City Editor: Ma Junxian.