Demand for ceasefire in Gaza

Condemnatory

Yes

Analysis

• This one-sided resolution "demanding" an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" without making this contingent on Hamas's release of the Israeli hostages was adopted as part of the General Assembly's 10th Emergency Special Session on Israel.
• While some paragraphs reference and make demands of "all parties," the resolution's main criticism is clearly directed at Israel. It endorses the South Africa proceedings at the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide as well as the ICJ's July 2024 advisory opinion declaring that the Israeli occupation violates international law. The resolution further implies that Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians in Gaza and committing genocide against them.
• Moreover, the resolution creates a false moral equivalence between Hamas terrorism and Israeli self-defense. For example, it deplores Israel's "attacks on civilians and civilian objects"—while ignoring Hamas's use of them for military purposes—and in the same sentence also deplores "all acts of terrorism," treating the two exactly the same. The resolution never acknoweldges Israel's right to security and self-defense.
• Similarly, the resolution views the innocent Israeli hostages the same as convicted criminals serving time in Israeli prisons, many for murder or attempted murder, and implies that Israel is violating the rights of the Palestinian criminals in its jails.

Main Sponsors

Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine

Vote

Yes - 158, No - 9, Abstain - 13, Absent - 13

See Full Vote

Key Praise

None

Key Criticism

• "Deploring all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as all violence and hostilities against civilians, and all acts of terrorism, reaffirming its rejection of forced displacement of the civilian population, including children, in violation of international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and recalling that the taking of hostages is prohibited under international law."
• "Recalling the orders of provisional measures of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1 in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), indicated by the Court on 26 January, 28 March and 24 May 2024, given its determination that there is a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to the rights found by the Court to be plausible, namely the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts mentioned in article III of the Convention, recalling also the advisory opinion rendered on 19 July 2024 by the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and from the illegality of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory…"
• "Expressing its deep alarm over the ongoing catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the lack of adequate healthcare services and the extreme state of food insecurity creating an imminent risk of famine notably in the north, and its grave impact on children, women and other civilians."
• "Demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."
• "Also demands that the parties fully comply with their obligations under international law in relation to persons they detain, including by releasing all those arbitrarily detained and all human remains."
• "Further demands immediate access by the civilian population in the Gaza Strip to basic services and humanitarian assistance indispensable to its survival, while rejecting any effort to starve Palestinians…"
• "Underscores that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East remains the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, rejects actions that undermine the implementation of the mandate of the Agency…"