UN General Assembly convenes to discuss US veto on Gaza resolution, UNRWA
The assembly is now in session to debate the February 20 veto by the US that prevented yet another resolution on an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip from passing. The meeting, which started at 10am (15:00 GMT) in New York, will look at Washington’s third veto to protect Israel since its war on Gaza started in October.
The UNGA will also be briefed by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees.
Situation in Gaza is catastrophic: UN General Assembly president
Dennis Francis, also Trinidad and Tobago’s UN ambassador, says the situation in the besieged coastal enclave is “unconscionable and shameful”.
“I am shocked and horrified at the reported killing and injury of hundreds of people during disbursement of food supplies west of Gaza City last week,” he said while addressing the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
Francis warns that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door. “I, therefore, urgently call for maximum restraint to prevail in order to save innocent civilian lives.”
“Let me close with a reminder that this week marks a grim milestone: 150 days of violence. … Each day this painful reality continues to entrench the feeling of frustration and disillusionment – especially by those caught in the crossfire,” he said.
Growing isolation of US, Israel at UNGA amid ongoing Gaza war
The United Nations has not been able to act given that so many people, now more than 30,000, have died in Gaza.
The comments from Liechtenstein [at the UN General Assembly or UNGA] meeting on the usage of veto power] were interesting and relevant in that they called on UN resolutions that call on the UN Security Council to act when there is credible evidence and their actions could prevent atrocities.
There is growing isolation of Israel and the United States at the UNGA. The UNGA long ago called for a humanitarian ceasefire [in Gaza], more than three-quarters of member states [agreed]. That goes far beyond the Arab and Islamic world. A number of countries are expressing their support for such action, and their concern about the disregard for international law.
US says working on new draft UN resolution on Gaza
US Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Robert Wood says Washington is working on a new draft resolution on Gaza. He told the UN General Assembly – aimed at reviewing the February 20 US veto in support of Israel – that the draft “would achieve a temporary ceasefire which would allow hostages to go home to their families and would help get aid into the hands of Palestinian civilians, who so desperately need it”.
Wood also reiterated Washington’s claim that the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire that it vetoed last month could have undermined the framework of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas. The deal is still under discussion but has so far failed to cross the finish line.
“We remain committed to engage constructively on our resolution in the days to come,” Wood said, shortly after US Vice President Kamala Harris called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza for six weeks.
Arab Group condemns UN Security Council deadlock
The Arab Group of 22 nations in the United Nations has condemned the “repeated failure” of the UN Security Council to implement its duties on safeguarding international peace and security, and stopping the bloodshed in Gaza.
“The draft resolution had reflected a balanced position and gave priority to humanitarian dimensions to save hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, yet it was disappointing to see a member of the Security Council using the veto right,” representative Abdullah Ali Fadhel al-Saadi said of the most recent target of a US veto in the council.
“This has allowed the Israeli military machine to continue its massacres against Palestinian civilians,” he added, enumerating the impact of the war on civilians, especially women and children, and the dire humanitarian situation.
The Arab Group said UN member states need to “stop this madness and stop the Palestinian bloodshed.
A look at the history of US vetos on Israel resolutions at the UN
As the UN General Assembly meets to discuss the most recent US veto of a Security Council resolution that would have called for a ceasefire in Gaza, take a look at its history of using its veto power, which belongs to only four other countries (China, France, Russia and the UK), to protect Israel.
‘Look at Yazan’: Mansour pleads for Gaza children at UNGA
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s representative to the United Nations, told the world to look at the children in Gaza who are losing their lives or limbs, either to starvation imposed by Israel or the bombs it drops on the besieged enclave.
“Look at Yazan,” he told the UN General Assembly session in New York, holding up an image of Yazan al-Kafarneh, a Palestinian child who died today of malnutrition. Images of him, gaunt and pale, made an impact on social media users as they circulated online.
“He was a lively boy,” Mansour said. “He was killed by Israel using starvation as a weapon of war.”
“The era of Israeli impunity must come to an end, and we should enter a new era of accountability and sanctions.”
#NOW: “Look at our children. Look at Yazan. Look what agony they are enduring. Dozens more children that have died of malnutrition have been identified, & many more have died & are dying in darkness & destitution. This has to stop. For God’s sake, this has to stop.” #Gaza @UN_PGA pic.twitter.com/WVgcsJwsEr
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) March 4, 2024
Israel feeling under pressure at the UN General Assembly
Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says Israel is feeling under pressure at the UNGA meeting on veto powers and referencing the Holocaust.
“For Israelis, they always start their argument when it comes to this war from the point of the Holocaust, the card they use, and then October 7. In between, there’s nothing in his [the Israeli ambassador to the UN’s] mind,” Qarmout told Al Jazeera.
On Israel threatening the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the separate allegations of sexual violence following the October 7 attack, Qarmout says Israel should allow international bodies access into the occupied territories to investigate the claims they’re suggesting.
“If they’re sincere about this, allow this [investigations] to happen. We’re all in for accountability. No one is in favour of these crimes even in conflict situations, but when it comes to applying international law, it has to be applied in an equal way, you cannot pick and choose,” he said.
