Hamas violence “does not justify collective punishment” of the Palestinians, the secretary general of the Hamas said on Friday. UNputting under pressure the Security Council, which must decide on his call for a “ceasefire”, rejected by USA.
“I unreservedly condemn” the Hamas attacks of October 7, but “The violence perpetrated by Hamas cannot under any circumstances justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” declared Antonio Guterres.
It was also said “terrified by accusations of sexual violence” against Hamas, as well as its special representative for sexual violence during conflicts Pramila Patten, who will travel to Israel on an official mission on this issue.
Guterres invoked for the first time on Wednesday Article 99 of the UN Charter to provoke this extraordinary meeting of the Council on a matter that “could endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.”
“While Hamas’s indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel and its use of civilians as human shields are violations of the laws of war, such behavior does not absolve Israel of its own violations,” he insisted, once again describing a humanitarian situation “at breaking point” in the Gaza Strip.
”The world and History are watching us. It is time to act”, he added to the members of the Council, asking them to “press for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, cried: “The time for courage has arrived (…) They must act now.” And in Washington the foreign ministers of several Arab countries and Turkey called for an “immediate” end to the war.
Guterres’ call was supported by a group of diplomats from Arab countries, but rejected by USAIsrael’s main ally and permanent member of the Council with veto power. “The United States strongly supports a lasting peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, but we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire,” said US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood.
”This would only sow the seeds of the next war,” he added. Since the unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which according to Israeli authorities left around 1,200 people dead, mainly civilians, Israel has imposed a “total siege” and massively bombed the Gaza Strip.
Food, water, fuel and medicine are arriving in dribs and drabs, while around 1.9 million people, or 85% of the population, have had to leave their homes, according to the UN.
According to him Hamas Ministry of Healthin power in Gaza, more than 17,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive, mostly women and minors.
New failure?
Following Guterres’ invocation of Article 99, United Arab Emirates prepared a draft resolution whose vote was postponed until the end of the day. The latest version of that short text seen by AFP highlights the “catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip” and “demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” as well as the “immediate and unconditional” release of all hostages and “guaranteeing the humanitarian access” to the Palestinian enclave.
US opposition makes it unlikely that the Council will approve a ceasefire. “We do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire,” insisted the US deputy ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, whose country, an ally of Israel, has the right of veto.
”This would only plant the seeds for a future war, because Hamas does not want a lasting peace,” he added. The Israeli ambassador to the UNGilad Erdan said that “The true path to peace is to support only Israel’s mission, not at all a call for a ceasefire.”
Four draft resolutions have already been rejected by the Council in the weeks after the start of the war, due to lack of sufficient votes or due to Russian, Chinese or American vetoes. The Council finally broke its silence in mid-November and managed to adopt a resolution calling for “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the Gaza Strip, but not a “ceasefire” or even a “truce.”
”To rush towards a vote without negotiating would be a big mistake”, “The last thing the Council needs today is a new confrontation and a new failure”, The French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere, stated this Friday, evoking a possible continuation of the negotiations over the weekend to avoid “an objection from one or another permanent member.”
But “the inaction of the United Nations Security Council and the vetoes of the member states, particularly the United States, make them complicit in the ongoing massacre,” Doctors Without Borders denounced in a press release.
(Source: AFP)
Source: Gestion
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