GENEVA (AN) — The United Nations' top human rights body voted overwhelmingly to call on all countries to stop selling weapons to Israel.
The U.N. Human Rights Council's 28-6 vote on Friday, with 13 abstentions, also demands that Israel be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Proponents sought to pressure the United States and Germany, the two nations that supply most imported weapons to Israel. The resolution by the 47-nation council asks U.N.-supported independent investigators to report on dual use items that Israel could use for civilian and military applications.
It emphasizes a need "to ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in order to end impunity" and points to "grave concern at reports of serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Though non-binding, the resolution adds to the pressure on Israel to stop restricting shipments of humanitarian aid for the 1.1 million Palestinians in desperate need, many on the brink of famine.
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar said the resolutions shows the council has for a long time "abandoned the Israeli people" and "defended Hamas" by dismissing Israel's right to protect itself while Hamas is allowed to "murder and torture innocent Israelis."
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi said more European nations should have backed the resolution. Albania, France, Georgia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands and Romania were among those that abstained. Germany and the United States were among those that were opposed.
"The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to de-conflict military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations," said U.S. Ambassador Michèle Taylor, "in order to avoid civilian casualties and to ensure humanitarian actors can carry out their essential mission in safety."
AI-driven targets
The vote comes on the heels of Israel's targeted killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers during an airstrike this week, in what the military calls a "grave mistake" resulting from a "serious violation" of military procedures."
U.S. President Biden called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that future U.S. policy would depend on Israel protecting humanitarian aid workers and operations in Gaza.
Marking a half-year of war in Gaza, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters in New York nothing can justify "the horror unleashed by Hamas on Oct. 7" when it attacked Israel or the "collective punishment of the Palestinian people" mainly from Israel's intense military campaign.
He said he was "deeply troubled" at reports that Israel's bombing campaign is using artificial intelligence to identify targets, particularly in densely populated residential areas, resulting in a high level of civilian casualties.
"No part of life and death decisions which impact entire families should be delegated to the cold calculation of algorithms," he said.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war along with the 1,200 Israelis killed in Hamas' surprise attack plus 255 Israelis killed in Gaza, according to the latest U.N. figures that rely in part on data from the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.
