Security Council votes in favor of Gaza resolution with ceasefire demand
Published: Wednesday, Nov 15th 2023, 23:00
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The UN Security Council has adopted a Gaza resolution calling for a ceasefire lasting several days. After a long struggle, the UN body agreed on the joint resolution in New York on Wednesday. The USA refrained from vetoing the resolution and abstained, as did Russia and the UK.
12 of the 15 member states voted in favor of the text. The resolution was also supported by Switzerland, as announced by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) on Wednesday evening. The reason given for the approval was that the resolution takes into account the urgent humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
"Concerted resolution text"
According to the FDFA, the resolution reflects four of Switzerland's priorities, namely humanitarian pauses for rapid humanitarian access, respect for international humanitarian law, the release of hostages and preventing the conflict from spreading. The concise text of the resolution, which is geared towards operational needs, deliberately refrains from providing a political context, especially as this proved impossible to achieve consensus on during the negotiations.
Security Council resolutions are binding under international law and can therefore have an international impact. The resolution introduced by Council member Malta calls for, among other things, "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days" in order to ensure humanitarian aid in accordance with international law.
However, there is no mention of a formal ceasefire. The text focuses strongly on the suffering of Palestinian minors. It expresses "deep concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its serious impact on the civilian population, in particular the disproportionate impact on children".
All parties to the conflict are urged to comply with international law, a "forced displacement of the civilian population" is rejected and vital services must not be withheld from the people in the Gaza Strip. According to diplomats, these positions are to be understood with regard to Israel's actions in the region - however, the country is not mentioned by name in the entire document.
Release of hostages demanded
The Islamist Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7 and carried out a massacre of civilians with around 1200 dead, is only mentioned in the text in the demand to release the Israeli hostages abducted in the Gaza Strip.
Until shortly before the vote, it was questionable whether the USA, as Israel's closest ally, could tolerate the adoption of the resolution. In October, Washington had vetoed a draft, partly because it did not emphasize Israel's right to self-defence.
The resolution that has now been adopted does not address this either, nor does it condemn the Hamas massacre on October 7. Like China, Russia, France and the UK, the USA has a right of veto. In addition, the Council has ten member states elected for two years. A resolution requires at least 9 of the 15 votes, and there can be no veto.
UN expert Richard Gowan from the Crisis Group think tank said that US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield seemed to have made it clear to Washington "that after weeks of blocking progress, the US must allow some kind of action in the Council." The United States had taken care to avoid calling for a formal ceasefire in the text.
"So in the end, the US achieved its main goal of focusing the Council on humanitarian measures rather than calling for a complete end to the war," said Gowan. At Wednesday's meeting, Russia failed to integrate the demand for a final cessation of hostilities and a ceasefire into the draft.
There was immense pressure on the UN Security Council to reach a common position after weeks of negotiations. By Wednesday, however, drafts had failed due to the vetoes of the USA on the one hand and Russia and China on the other. The UN General Assembly, with its 193 members, had passed a resolution that was significantly more critical of Israel by a large majority at the end of October. Germany abstained at the time. This resolution was not binding under international law.
©Keystone/SDA
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