UNITED NATIONS (AN) — The world body's most powerful arm, with U.S. consent, sent a message to Israel and Hamas that they must take "urgent steps" to immediately allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.
After a week of negotiating the 15-nation U.N. Security Council approved the watered-down resolution on Friday – it omitted an earlier demand for "an urgent suspension of hostilities" between Israel and Hamas – in a 13-0 vote. The United States and Russia, two of the council's five permanent members with veto power, abstained.
The resolution calls for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities" in the Gaza Strip, where the entire 2.2 million population faces what experts describe as a crisis-level lack of food or worse.
The latest data show virtually all households skip meals every day; many adults go hungry so children can eat. At least 576,600 people – 1-in-4 households in Gaza — have exhausted their food supplies and face extreme hunger. The risk of famine is spreading due to critical shortages in food, clean water, health care and sanitation, according to a U.N. report.
The report, released by 23 U.N. agencies and NGOs, came just a day ahead of the council vote on the resolution, which was negotiated to avoid a third U.S. veto of a Gaza resolution in the wake of Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks inside Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage.
Friday's vote to approve the resolution followed a U.S. veto of Russia's proposed amendment to restore the call for an immediate suspension in fight that was backed by two-thirds of the council's members. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia described the resolution that ultimately passed as “entirely toothless.”
The council had spent all week negotiating a resolution introduced by the United Arab Emirates to temporarily halt the fighting and allow organizations to bring more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Despite the lack of language calling for a halt in the fighting, U.A.E.'s U.N. Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh said the resolution "gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that at the very least, the world will not tolerate the continued deprivation of the people of Gaza from basic necessities."
"It puts in place a system that is necessary now and that will remain necessary when the war ends," she said. "We are all responsible for making sure that it works."
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said it took "many days, and many, many long nights of negotiating to get this right," but the final resolution would provide "a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of unimaginable suffering."
She said the resolution would help scale up the delivery of aid for Gaza through both the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel and Egypt.
"This resolution puts the weight of the Security Council behind these efforts," said Thomas-Greenfield, "and bolsters them by calling for the appointment of a senior U.N. official, who will work to expedite the delivery of humanitarian aid at scale and in a sustained way."
The negotiations largely focused on U.S. and Egyptian concerns about the aid inspections. Israel has been inspecting everything brought into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but the U.A.E.'s draft had given the U.N. secretary-general control over monitoring the inspections.
Severely restricted access
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration wanted to drop any references to ending the war or putting the U.N. in charge of inspecting aid deliveries, which it believes could slow down the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Biden's pick to head the World Food Program said a humanitarian cease-fire is needed immediately.
“Tragically, without the safe, consistent access we have been calling for, the situation is desperate, and no one in Gaza is safe from starvation.” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain.
The council has often been deadlocked in its job of dealing with threats to international peace and security, owing to the geopolitical fracture lines among its permanent, veto-wielding members: China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.
The proposals made earlier this week called for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities” and for U.N. António Secretary-General Guterres to set up a monitor for aid deliveries that provides an alternative to Israel's inspections.
“The complexity, magnitude and speed that this crisis has unfolded is unprecedented," said WFP Chief Economist Arif Husain.
The U.S. had vetoed a council resolution demanding humanitarian access earlier this month that most other members supported, and the 193-nation General Assembly approved a non-binding resolution on the matter a few days later.
At least 19,667 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis have been killed since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to U.N. figures. About 90% of the other 58,000 people who have been injured are Palestinians.
Guterres' spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters the world body has been working to ensure the flow of goods into Gaza meets most people's needs.
"While the current scale of supplies entering Gaza falls short of what is required, what is equally crucial is to re-establish the conditions within Gaza that allow for meaningful, efficient and large-scale humanitarian deliveries," said Dujarric.
"Currently, intense fighting, the lack of electricity, limited fuel and disrupted telecommunications severely restrict access to loading points and trucks," he said, "as well as the ability to deliver, prioritize, plan and coordinate critical operations — with civilians bearing the brunt of the suffering that is going on."
This story has been updated with additional details.
