On Monday, the UN Security Council failed to adopt a Russian-drafted resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The draft resolution received five votes in favour and four against, with six abstentions. Together with Russia, four countries – China, Mozambique, Gabon and the United Arab Emirates – voted in favour of the resolution. Four countries – Japan, the US, France and the United Kingdom – voted against. The remaining six countries abstained. A Security Council resolution requires at least nine votes in favour and no veto from the five permanent members of the Council.
Vassily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, has said that his delegation was deeply disappointed with the results of the vote. He told reporters after the voting was over:
There is nothing in the (draft) resolution that can be contested because it is a purely humanitarian one. The only reason why the resolution didn’t pass was because they do not want to support anything from Russia.
Another draft resolution on the same subject, submitted by Brazil, is on the table of the Security Council. No date has yet been set for a vote on it.
Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said the council had a moral duty to act in a bid to restrain an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip he said was claiming 12 lives every hour. Israel has cut off supplies of water and power to the isolated Gaza strip, and warned more than a million people to leave the north of the densely populated enclave. The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees has warned that the Gaza Strip faces an “unprecedented human catastrophe” if water and other vital supplies are not restored.
Israel is preparing for a ground offensive in Gaza while subjecting the enclave to the most intense bombardment ever, putting Gaza under total siege. Gaza authorities say at least 2,750 people have been killed.
