(United Nations) The UN Security Council on Thursday again postponed its vote on a resolution intended to improve humanitarian aid to Gaza, a largely weakened text that does not call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, but now has the support of the United States.
According to diplomatic sources, the vote is now scheduled for Friday, but the new text, the result of fierce negotiations under the threat of a new American veto, no longer resembles the version put on the table on Sunday by the United Arab Emirates.
The new draft resolution drafted Thursday, seen by AFP, calls for “urgent measures to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access and also to create the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities.”
The reference to an “urgent and lasting cessation of hostilities” present in the first text has disappeared, as has the less direct request in the following version for an “urgent suspension of hostilities”.
“We have worked hard and diligently this week with the Emirates, others, with Egypt, to arrive at a resolution that we can support,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Thursday evening. .
PHOTO EDUARDO MUNOZ, REUTERS ARCHIVES
US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield
“The draft resolution is not weakened. The draft resolution is very strong, fully supported by the Arab group,” she assured, believing that it would “provide humanitarian aid to those who need it.”
The Council, widely criticized for its inaction since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, has been negotiating hard for several days, while the UN has warned of the “unprecedented” food insecurity suffered by residents of Gaza now threatened by famine.
The vote initially planned for Monday was postponed multiple times, notably on Wednesday at the request of the Americans who had vetoed on December 8 a previous text calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, shelled by Israeli forces in retaliation for the bloody and unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Council has only managed to break its silence once, with the November 15 resolution calling for “humanitarian pauses”. He rejected five other texts in two months, two of which were due to American vetoes, the last on December 8.
The United States then blocked, despite unprecedented pressure from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the call for a “humanitarian ceasefire”, also deemed unacceptable by Israel.
And Russia?
“It appears that the United States took advantage of the desire of other Council members to avoid a veto. But the result is a text that is starting to be very weak in many aspects,” commented Richard Gowan, analyst at the International Crisis Group.
“Other members of the Council will have to decide whether they swallow a weak text just to have an agreement,” he added, mentioning in particular the risk that this text would be “a problem for Russia”, which also a right of veto, and who continues to insist on a cease-fire.
Negotiations have focused in recent hours on the request for the establishment of an aid monitoring mechanism, ensured “exclusively” by the UN, to guarantee the “humanitarian” nature of deliveries.
Israel, which wants to maintain its control over humanitarian convoys, opposed this mechanism and the reference to the exclusive control of the UN disappeared from the last text consulted by AFP.
Another contentious point, the absence once again in the text of a condemnation – and even of the name – of Hamas, castigated by Israel and the United States.
The new draft resolution removed the condemnation of “all acts of terrorism”, but also that of “all indiscriminate attacks against civilians” present in previous versions.
After the October 7 attack which, according to Israeli authorities, left around 1,140 dead, mostly civilians, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, shelling Palestinian territory, besieging it and carrying out a vast ground operation. since October 27.
The Hamas government announced Wednesday that Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip had left 20,000 dead since the start of the war, including at least 8,000 children and 6,200 women.