The U.S., which has U.N. Security Council veto power, is expected to end opposition to a resolution that calls for a suspension of fighting in Gaza.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution on Friday calling for a suspension of fighting in Gaza.
The United States, which has veto power on the Security Council, had been balking at the wording of the resolution. But U.S. Ambassador to the U.N Linda Thomas-Greenfield now says that has all been worked out, meaning the U.S. could lift its veto of the resolution.
She called the resolution “very strong” and added it has not been watered down.
“We have worked hard and diligently over the course of the past week with the Emiratis, with Egypt, to come up with a resolution that we can support,” she said. “It is a resolution that will bring humanitarian assistance to those who need it, it will support the priority that Egypt has, ensuring that we put a mechanism on the ground that will support humanitarian assistance.”
Thomas-Greenfield noted that U.S. support for the resolution is contingent on no additional changes being made to the draft resolution .
The U.S. has argued in previous sessions that any resolution must condemn Hamas for attacking Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when 1,200 people died. The group took over 200 people from Israel hostage.
The resolution is also expected to call for ramping up aid to civilians in Gaza.
The U.S. is among 15 members on the Security Council, and among five that have veto power on the council.
The vote comes 10 days after the United Nations General Assembly voted for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” The resolution passed with 153 nations voting in favor. The United States was among 10 nations that voted against the resolution.
The U.N. reports that there have been at least 20,000 deaths in Gaza since the start of hostilities.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is now issuing a strong warning to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are threatening ships in the Red Sea. The Pentagon said their attacks are not just against one country but against the international community, and they’ll pay a price if they continue.
In recent weeks, drones and missiles fired by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen have targeted Israeli-linked ships in that area. The Pentagon announced the creation of a new force to protect shipping using forces from multiple nations.
After a week of diplomatic back and forth, the United States has signalled that it is ready to support a United Nations Security Council resolution. Here is what we know about the draft resolution.
The original draft was put forth by the United Arab Emirates mission to the UN on December 15 and it called for a cessation of hostilities and unhindered flow of aid into the Gaza Strip. It also said that the UN would exclusively monitor aid that enters Gaza through routes from outside states. Additionally, it called for an “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.
Initially, the US did not want the word “cessation” in the resolution. As a result, the language was substituted with “suspension of hostilities”.
However, Washington was unconvinced despite the first round of revisions and voting was delayed. Now, the problem was with the UN monitoring of aid entering Gaza.
PassBlue, an independent organisation that monitors the UN, posted on X that US diplomats were reportedly in agreement with the UN monitoring of aid until Israel saw the draft resolution.
The USUN diplos were apparently OK with this para in the Gaza draft text, until #Israel saw it.
— PassBlue (@pass_blue) December 20, 2023
Israel wants to keep full control of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza https://t.co/gzJpxQBq4G
Before Thursday, Arab and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members proposed new language to the US pertaining to the clause that talks about the UN monitoring aid entering Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Rami Ayari posted on X.
By then, a vote on the draft resolution had already been postponed seven times in three days, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reported.
However, the voting did not take place as scheduled for Thursday either – and was delayed to Friday.
What changes did the US make to the resolution?
With the help of Arab states, the US amended the draft.
US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “We’re ready to vote on it. And it’s a resolution that will bring humanitarian assistance to those in need.”
The original draft, which mentioned a “cessation of hostilities”, was changed to call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities”.
But the US-amended draft drops all references to a pause in fighting.
Instead, it calls for “urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”.
The original draft also said the UN will “exclusively monitor all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through land, sea and air routes” from countries not party to the war.
Instead, the amended draft resolution asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator to, in turn, establish a mechanism for accelerating aid to Gaza through states that are not party to the conflict.
The coordinator would also have responsibility “for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature” of all the aid.
The initial draft resolution had demanded that Israel and Hamas allow and facilitate “the use of all land, sea and air routes to and throughout the entire Gaza” for aid deliveries. That was changed to “all available routes,” which some diplomats said allows Israel to retain control over access to all aid deliveries to all 2.3 million people in Gaza.
Israel monitors the limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Israel-controlled Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.
WTXL/ Al Jazeera
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