PNN – Following the United States’ veto of the resolution to establish an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in the United Nations Security Council and the increase in global opposition to this action by the Joe Biden administration, 103 countries have so far supported the resolution to establish a ceasefire in Gaza for approval in the General Assembly.
According to Pakistan News Network from the United Nations, the United Nations General Assembly will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday local time to vote on a draft resolution that calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
On Sunday, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Dennis Francis, sent a letter to the 193 member states of the organization, in which he announced that this meeting was requested by 22 members of the Arab Group and 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, also said that the draft resolution that is to be voted on on Tuesday afternoon is similar to the Security Council resolution that the United States vetoed on Friday.
Mansour continued: This resolution has been supported by 103 countries and it is hoped that more supporters will be found and in case of voting, the resolution of the General Assembly will get a high vote.
There is no veto right in the UN General Assembly, and unlike the Security Council, its resolutions are not legally binding, but these resolutions are important as the pressure of world opinion.
The United States of America, as a permanent member of the Security Council, vetoed the resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates, which was based on the request of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, to establish a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, despite obtaining 13 votes in favor in this council.
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Out of 15 votes of the members of the Security Council, the resolution proposed by the UAE received 13 votes in favor, one vote against from the United States of America and one abstention vote from the United Kingdom, thus it was vetoed by the opposition of the United States as a permanent member of the Security Council.
On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian resistance groups launched a surprise operation called “Al-Aqsa Storm” from Gaza against the positions of the Israeli regime, and finally, after 45 days of fighting and conflict, on November 24, 2023, between Israel and Hamas, a four-day temporary cease-fire was reached.
Following the end of the four-day temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, Qatar, as one of the mediating countries, announced that an agreement had been reached between Hamas and Tel Aviv to extend the ceasefire for 48 hours. Hamas also announced that it has reached an agreement with Qatar and Egypt on the extension of the temporary humanitarian ceasefire for another 2 days, based on the same terms of the previous ceasefire.
Finally, on the morning of December 1, 2023, the temporary ceasefire ended and the Israeli regime resumed attacks on Gaza. In order to retaliate for the surprise attacks of the “Al-Aqsa storm” and to compensate for its failure and stop the resistance operations, this regime has closed all the crossings of the Gaza Strip and is bombarding this area.
Following the end of the temporary cessation of hostilities, the Secretary General of the United Nations sent a letter to the President of the Security Council Citing Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, regarding the extent of human casualties in Gaza.
It was the first time Guterres had done so since he took over as UN Secretary-General in 2017. Article 99 of the UN Charter, which has been used only 9 times in the history of the United Nations, states that “the Secretary-General may report to the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.
This article allows the Secretary General of this organization to call the members of the Security Council to an urgent meeting and ask them to take immediate action when he feels that “global security and peace” is in danger.
In this letter, Guterres said: “The complete collapse of public order” in the Gaza Strip will make it “impossible” to send humanitarian aid even on a limited basis.
However, the members of the Security Council in the emergency meeting of the Security Council on December 17, after hours of discussions, due to the opposition of the United States, could not prevent the Israeli war against the innocent people of Gaza, and once again the ineffectiveness of this council was proved to the world due to the political exploitation of this council.
The Ministry of Health of Gaza announced today in a statement that the number of martyrs in Gaza reached 18,205 during the 66 days of aggression by the Zionist regime.