Voting results are displayed as the Unite Nations General Assembly voted on a nonbinding resolution calling for a "humanitarian truce" in Gaza and a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, Oct 27, 2023, at UN headquarters. (PHOTO / AP)
UNITED NATIONS/JERUSALEM/GAZA – The General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution that calls for a humanitarian truce in Gaza.
The resolution calls for "an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities."
It demands "the immediate, continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision" of essential goods and services to civilians throughout the Gaza Strip, including but not limited to water, food, medical supplies, fuel and electricity.
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It urges immediate, full, sustained, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza.
It encourages the establishment of humanitarian corridors and other initiatives to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, and welcomes efforts in this regard.
The resolution demands that all parties immediately and fully comply with their obligations under international law, particularly in regard to the protection of civilians and civilian objects, and enable and facilitate humanitarian access for essential supplies and services to reach all civilians in need in Gaza.
It also calls for the rescinding of the order by Israel for Palestinian civilians and UN staff, as well as humanitarian and medical workers, to evacuate all areas in the Gaza Strip north of the Wadi Gaza and relocate to southern Gaza.
The resolution firmly rejects any attempts at the forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population.
It calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians who are being illegally held captive, demanding their safety, well-being and humane treatment in compliance with international law.
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It also calls for respect and protection, consistent with international humanitarian law, of all civilian and humanitarian facilities, including hospitals and other medical facilities, as well as their means of transport and equipment, schools, places of worship, and UN facilities, as well as all humanitarian and medical personnel and journalists, media professionals and associated personnel, in armed conflict in the region.
A picture taken from near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 28, 2023, shows an Israeli Merkava tank rolling close to the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (PHOTO / AFP)It stresses the particularly grave impact that armed conflict has on women and children, as well as on other civilians who may have specific vulnerabilities, including persons with disabilities and older persons.
The resolution stresses the need to urgently establish a mechanism to ensure the protection of the Palestinian civilian population, in accordance with international law and the relevant UN resolutions, and further stresses the importance of a humanitarian notification mechanism to ensure the protection of UN facilities and all humanitarian installations and to ensure the unimpeded movement of aid convoys.
The resolution emphasizes the importance of preventing further destabilization and escalation of violence in the region, and in this regard calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and on all those with influence on them to work toward this objective.
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It reaffirms that a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved by peaceful means, based on the relevant UN resolutions and in accordance with international law, and on the basis of the two-state solution.
The resolution was adopted with 120 votes in favor, 14 votes against, and 45 abstentions.
Apart from Israel and the United States, the following 12 countries voted against the draft resolution: Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Guatemala, Hungary, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga.
An amendment to the draft resolution, introduced by Canada, failed to be adopted as it did not win the necessary two-thirds majority of votes.
The Canadian proposal won 88 votes in favor, 55 against, and 23 abstentions.
The amendment would have condemned the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the taking of hostages by Hamas and would have called for the release of hostages.
Pakistani UN ambassador Munir Akram, in his explanation of vote before the vote, said the Jordanian draft, for the purpose of moderation, does not explicitly condemn Israel for its atrocities in Gaza. The Canadian amendment would have made the resolution unbalanced and unjust. He also pointed out that the Jordanian draft contains language for the release of hostages.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is expanding ground operations in Gaza on Friday night, in continuation of the offensive carried out in the last few days, said IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
The IDF has increased the airstrikes in Gaza "very significantly" in recent hours, Hagari said on social media X at night, adding the air force widely attacks underground targets and "terrorist infrastructure" to achieve the goals of the war.
Palestinian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ishaq Sidr confirmed an almost complete interruption of internet and telecommunication in Gaza amid the Israeli strikes, as two communications towers in Gaza had come under the attacks.
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Xinhua correspondents stationed in Gaza, after regaining network, said intensified Israeli air strikes in northern and central Gaza were lightening up the night sky amid a blackout.
In a statement, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it lost mobile and internet contact with operation rooms in Gaza, expressing grave concern about whether local crews could continue ambulance services.
Meanwhile, armed Palestinian factions fired rockets at Israeli cities in retaliation, according to Israeli media reports.
This image grab from an AFP TV footage shows a salvo of rockets fired from Gaza City on Oct 27, 2023, as battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continue. (PHOTO / AFP)
Exchange fire on border
Fire is being exchanged between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants on the Gaza Strip border as the Israel Defense Forces(IDF) announces an expanded ground assault into the enclave Friday night, Palestine's Al-Quds newspaper reported.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement "we are confronting an Israeli ground incursion into Beit Hanoun and east of Bureij, and violent clashes are taking place on the ground." Bureij lies in the central part of the Gaza Strip, whereas Beit Hanoun is in the northwest of the Palestinian enclave.
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The IDF spokesperson confirmed to Xinhua that "following the activities which were carried out over the last few days, (IDF) ground forces are extending their ground activities this evening."
In Gaza, eyewitnesses told Xinhua that heavy Israeli bombardment has been ongoing, while local media reported Palestinian militants fired barrage of rockets targeting Israeli tanks deployed along the border.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Oct 28, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
Call for shutting down US embassy
Iraqi prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Friday called on the government to shut down the US embassy in Baghdad in response to Washington's support for Israeli attacks in Gaza.
"We are waiting for the government's reply to this request," al-Sadr said in a statement, adding "if the government and parliament do not (positively) respond, we will have another position to announce later."
The cleric also called for the protection of the diplomats and staffers at the US embassy, urging all Iraqis not to act individually nor use weapons, according to the statement.
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Al-Sadr's request came amid increasing dissatisfaction among Iraqis over the US support for Israel, which is conducting extensive attacks in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a surprise attack by Hamas on Oct 7.
Israeli border guards walk past Muslim worshippers during the weekly Friday prayers on the Mount of Olives in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem on Oct 27, 2023, ahead of demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing fighting between Israel and the Hamas movement. (PHOTO / AFP)
2 drones behind South Sinai incidents
The Egyptian army said its probe showed two unmanned drones were the falling objects that had injured six in South Sinai province on Friday morning.
The incident occur when the drones were heading from the south of the Red Sea to the north, and one of them was targeted outside Egyptian airspace in the Gulf of Aqaba region, the Egyptian army said in a statement.
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The statement added that some of the debris of the targeted drone fell in an uninhabited area in Egypt's coastal town of Nuweiba in the South Sinai province, and other fell in Taba, an Egyptian town near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba.
Egypt's Air Force and Air Defense Forces are intensifying the work of securing Egyptian airspace on all strategic directions of the country, the statement added.
