UNSC failed demanding Gaza ceasefire; aid to Gaza given under Israreli control

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday passed a resolution to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza – Not demanded ceasefire fearing US veto.

The resolution, calls for steps “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”, passed on Friday with 13 votes in favour, none against, and the US and Russia abstaining.Despite legal binding US, Israel and other countries have ignored the UNSC resolutions in the past.

The adopted resolution opts for less equivocal language on a ceasefire and maintains Israel’s control over all aid.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said by voting for this resolution the council would essentially be giving the Israeli armed forces complete freedom of movement for further clearing of the Gaza Strip.

The original draft called for “an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities” and gave the UN increased control over aid deliveries into Gaza.

The UN described Gaza “hell on earth” 

The UN said the resolution does not go far enough with the majority of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million displaced, the imminent threat of famine and the spread of diseases.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a post on X that he hopes the resolution can improve the delivery of aid, “but a humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare”.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed the resolution but reiterated the need for an “immediate ceasefire”.

Oxfam stressed immediate ceasefire

Oxfam America’s Scott Paul stressed that aid to Gaza “can’t work while the bombs are falling and destroying houses, factories, farms, mills, [and] bakeries”.

“There’s no point in bringing in flour if you can’t bake bread with it. So the focus is entirely wrong,” Paul said.

Palestinian officials have said that more than 20,000 people, about 70 percent of them children and women, have been killed in Israel’s land, air and sea offensive in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7.