UN Approves Watered-Down Resolution on Aid to Gaza without Call for Suspension of Hostilities

Members of the United Nations Security Council from the United States and Russia raise their hand to vote to abstain in regards to the amendment proposed by United Arab Emirates during a Security Council vote on two resolutions regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict in New York, New York, USA, 22 December 2023. (EPA)
Members of the United Nations Security Council from the United States and Russia raise their hand to vote to abstain in regards to the amendment proposed by United Arab Emirates during a Security Council vote on two resolutions regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict in New York, New York, USA, 22 December 2023. (EPA)
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UN Approves Watered-Down Resolution on Aid to Gaza without Call for Suspension of Hostilities

Members of the United Nations Security Council from the United States and Russia raise their hand to vote to abstain in regards to the amendment proposed by United Arab Emirates during a Security Council vote on two resolutions regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict in New York, New York, USA, 22 December 2023. (EPA)
Members of the United Nations Security Council from the United States and Russia raise their hand to vote to abstain in regards to the amendment proposed by United Arab Emirates during a Security Council vote on two resolutions regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict in New York, New York, USA, 22 December 2023. (EPA)

The UN Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday calling for immediate speeded-up aid deliveries to hungry and desperate civilians in Gaza – but without the original call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas.

The long-delayed vote in the 15-member council was 13-0 with the United States and Russia abstaining. The vote came immediately after the United States vetoed a Russian amendment that would have restored the call to immediately suspend hostilities. That vote was 10 countries in favor, the US against and four abstentions.

The final-vote US abstention avoided a second American veto of a Gaza resolution following Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks inside Israel. A relieved US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the resolution’s adoption: “This was tough, but we got there.”

She said the vote bolsters efforts “to alleviate this humanitarian crisis to get lifesaving assistance into Gaza and to get hostages out of Gaza, to push for the protection of innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and to work towards a lasting peace.”

But Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called the resolution “entirely toothless” and accused the United States of “shameful, cynical and irresponsible conduct” and resorting to tactics “of gross pressure, blackmail and twisting arms” to avoid a US veto.

In proposing the amendment to restore call for suspending hostilities, the Russian said that adopting the revised resolution “would essentially be giving the Israeli armed forces complete freedom of movement for the clearing of the Gaza Strip.”

The final resolution, with some late changes Friday morning, culminated a week and a half of high-level diplomacy by the United States, the United Arab Emirates on behalf of Arab nations and others.

Between Tuesday and Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to the foreign ministers of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates three times each as well as to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Britain, France and Germany.

The vote, initially scheduled for Monday, was delayed every day until Friday.

Rather than watered down, Thomas-Greenfield described the resolution as “strong” and said it “is fully supported by the Arab group that provides them what they feel is needed to get humanitarian assistance on the ground.”

But it was stripped of its key provision with teeth — the call for “the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities” which Russia sought to restore.

Instead, the resolution calls “for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The steps are not defined, but diplomats said its adoption marks the council’s first reference to stopping fighting.

On a key sticking point concerning aid deliveries, the resolution eliminated a previous request for the UN “to exclusively monitor all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through land, sea and air routes” by outside parties to confirm their humanitarian nature.

It substituted a request to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to expeditiously appoint “a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator with responsibility for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying” whether relief deliveries to Gaza that are not from the parties to the conflict are humanitarian goods.

It asks the coordinator to expeditiously establish a “mechanism” to speed aid deliveries and demands that the parties to the conflict — Israel and Hamas — cooperate with the coordinator.

Guterres has said Gaza faces “a humanitarian catastrophe” and warned that a total collapse of the humanitarian support system would lead to “a complete breakdown of public order and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt.”

According to a report released Thursday by 23 UN and humanitarian agencies, Gaza’s entire 2.2 million population is in a food crisis or worse and 576,600 are at the “catastrophic” starvation level. With supplies to Gaza cut off except for a small trickle, the UN World Food Program has said 90% of the population is regularly going without food for a full day.

Nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, since the war started. During the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took about 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, and its Health Ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Thousands more Palestinians lie buried under the rubble of Gaza, the UN estimates.

Security Council resolutions are legally binding, but in practice many parties choose to ignore the council’s requests for action. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they are a significant barometer of world opinion.



Lebanon Ready for Syria Pact to Repatriate Non-Terror Convicts

Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)
Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)
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Lebanon Ready for Syria Pact to Repatriate Non-Terror Convicts

Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)
Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar (NNA)

Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nassar said Beirut had received no warnings from Damascus about potential retaliatory measures to push for the release of Syrian detainees held in Lebanese prisons, dismissing any talk of escalation as unnecessary.

“There’s no need for escalation. We’re fully open to resolving this issue through direct dialogue and a formal treaty with the Syrian authorities, one that allows the transfer of Syrian convicts, except those sentenced for killing Lebanese soldiers or for terrorism charges,” Nassar told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Nassar revealed that his ministry had already prepared a draft agreement aimed at moving the stalled file forward, stressing that resolving the issue is in Lebanon’s interest as much as Syria’s.

“This would ease the severe overcrowding in our prisons,” he said. “We’re determined to take every step in full compliance with Lebanese law and judicial procedures.”

According to Nassar, some 1,700 Syrians are currently detained in Lebanon, including 389 with final verdicts. The rest are still on trial.

“Their treatment is identical to that of Lebanese inmates,” he added. “We’re holding court sessions directly at Roumieh prison to address logistical constraints, and there’s also an intention to do the same for the military court.”

Addressing the recent Cabinet appointment of Maher Shaito as financial public prosecutor, a move widely seen as a win for the minister after rejecting a nominee backed by the Hezbollah-Amal alliance, Nassar insisted the process was purely institutional.

“This was a victory for state institutions. I can’t nominate someone I don’t believe is qualified,” he said. “After consulting senior judges and the head of the Higher Judicial Council, it was clear there was consensus around Shaito due to his credentials and track record.”

He stressed that the appointment involved “no deals or political bartering,” adding that while he found Judge Ziad Hamadeh unsuitable for that specific post, “I never said he was unfit for another position.”

Nassar described his meeting Saturday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as “positive,” saying Berri expressed support for the minister’s efforts under the principle of judicial independence.

On long-awaited judicial appointments, Nassar said the Judicial Council was working “around the clock” and had promised to complete the file by the end of the month. “Some 600 names are currently under consideration,” he noted.

As Lebanon approaches the fifth anniversary of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, Nassar said he would not interfere with the timeline of investigative judge Tarek Bitar, who is handling the politically sensitive case.

“Judge Bitar is continuing his probe, and I’m offering full cooperation within the limits of my authority, especially when it comes to securing information from abroad,” he said. “We won’t allow any obstruction of his work.”

Nassar said the timing of the indictment “depends on whether he receives the answers to all his questions,” adding: “There’s no legal deadline obliging him to issue a ruling by a specific date.”

Responding to reports that he and other ministers had objected to certain appointments during the last Cabinet session, Nassar confirmed his opposition to the newly named Banking Control Commission, saying ministers had not been briefed beforehand.

He also voiced strong objection to linking the disarmament of Hezbollah to any other file.

“I told Cabinet and President Joseph Aoun that the issue of arms must not be conditional. I believe in the exclusive right of the state to bear arms - there can be no functioning state otherwise,” he said.

Nassar added that Aoun had promised to refer any final document related to the ongoing US-mediated talks on the weapons issue back to the Cabinet for discussion.