The United Nations Security Council has spoken out for the first time in favor of stopping fighting and strikes in the Gaza Strip. But the institution has few means to enforce its decisions.
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A very fragile hope for peace. For the first time since the start of the Israeli military intervention in the Gaza Strip, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for a “immediate ceasefire”, Monday March 25. The decision was adopted thanks to 14 votes in favor and one abstention, that of the United States. Israel’s historic ally, Washington had until then vetoed three previous texts calling for an end to the fighting, before changing its position. The United States presented its own resolution, mentioning “the need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire”Friday – Russia and China vetoed it.
The text finally adopted on Monday “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan” (which ends at the beginning of April) in front “bring to a lasting ceasefire”. He orders also “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said failure to implement the resolution would be “unforgivable”.
Despite this vote, Israeli army air raids and clashes with Hamas continued in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas Ministry of Health claims to have recorded 70 deaths overnight from Monday to Tuesday, including 13 in airstrikes near Rafah. Franceinfo summarizes the reasons why the cessation of fighting requested by the United Nations remains very uncertain.
Resolutions are binding, but often ignored
According to the Charter of the United Nations, member states of the UN “agree to accept and apply” resolutions passed by the Security Council. This is the only United Nations body capable of voting on binding decisions. But even if they fall under international law, the Council does not have the means to enforce them, recalls the New York Times. It can take sanctions against a country that does not respect its decisions, but these must also be put to a vote, and are therefore also subject to the right of veto of the permanent members of the Security Council.
In fact, Security Council resolutions are often ignored by the countries concerned. On Richard Gowan, UN specialist at the NGO Crisis Group, explains that“in 1973, the United States supported a UN resolution during the Yom Kippur War, then [le chef de la diplomatie américaine, Henry] Kissinger discreetly indicated to [la Première ministre israélienne] Golda Meir that Israel should transgress it”. Tel Aviv is currently violating a 2016 UN resolution that demands an end to continued settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. In 1981, a resolution called for an end to Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, but the territory is still occupied by Israel. The UN has become a “dwarf on the international political scene”, lamented Romuald Sciora, associate researcher at Iris and United Nations specialist, to franceinfo in December. She “no longer has this influence nor the means to impose any cease-fire”he already affirmed.
Israel remains determined to continue fighting
The United States downplayed the impact of the resolution by calling it “non-binding”, but their refusal to use their veto still provoked Israel’s ire. Tel Aviv immediately canceled the visit of a delegation that was expected in Washington to address the ground offensive that the Israeli army is planning in Rafah. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared that the American abstention during Monday’s vote “harmed” to his war effort and his efforts to free the hostages held in Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting the United States, assured that this decision would not end the operations of the Israeli army: “We do not have the moral right to stop the war as long as there are hostages in Gaza”he justified.
The pressure from the United States does not seem strong enough for Israel to change its action. “The Biden administration is obviously unhappy with Israel’s current military posture, and allowing this resolution to pass was a relatively mild way of expressing concern.”estimates United Nations expert Richard Gowan, cited by the New York Times. “The abstention is a thinly veiled suggestion to Netanyahu to slow down operations, especially in Rafah.” During a meeting on Monday with Yoav Gallant, the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, once again warned Israel against the risks of an offensive in Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip where the majority of civilians having fled the fighting in the rest of the enclave.
Hamas still refuses to release hostages
Alongside the UN resolution, truce talks continue in Qatar. But Hamas has already qualified them “failure”. The Islamist movement rejected, on Monday, the latest proposals made in exchange for the release of the hostages, underlines the Israeli daily Haaretz. However, the Security Council resolution also requires “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.
According to the Israeli daily, Hamas set several conditions for changing its position: the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the return of Gazans displaced in the south of the Palestinian territory to the north and the release of a number “significant” of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. According to Tel Aviv, of the approximately 250 people who were kidnapped in Israel during the October 7 attacks, 130 have not been released, of whom 33 are believed to have died.
The text is criticized for its “insufficiency”
Several countries and organizations welcomed the UN Security Council resolution, but also criticized the limits of the text. Iran, a supporter of Hamas, welcomed a “positive step, but insufficient”. Egypt pointed “the imbalance” of the resolution due to its “limited duration and the obligations it entails”. South Africa, which has filed several appeals against Israel in recent months with the International Court of Justice, warned: “The ball is now in the court of the Security Council, which will be tested on its ability to ensure compliance with its resolution.”
The limitation of “immediate ceasefire” requested by the text at “month of Ramadan” is one of the points criticized, this having started two weeks before the vote. “This resolution providing for a two-week pause is not sufficient to meet the immense humanitarian needs”, warned Doctors Without Borders. Israel’s tightened blockade of the Gaza Strip still prevents the entry of “vital supplies” within the enclave, and the delivery of humanitarian aid remains “almost impossible due to the total disregard for the protection and safety of medical and humanitarian personnel”denounces the NGO.
More than five months after the start of the war, more than 32,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry. More than a million Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah in critical humanitarian conditions.