The United Nations General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza. It also demands “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” provision of lifesaving supplies and services for civilians trapped inside the enclave, as news reports suggest Israel has expanded ground operations and intensified its bombing campaign. UN News

The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on Friday, calling for an "immediate, lasting, and uninterrupted humanitarian truce" between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza. The resolution also demands the continuous, sufficient, and unimpeded provision of life-saving supplies and services to civilians trapped in Gaza. More than 120 countries voted in favor of this Arab resolution, calling for an end to the war in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the affected area. Only 14 countries, including the United States, voted against it.

An amendment to the resolution, which was co-sponsored by Canada, the US, and some European countries and called for the condemnation of Hamas, failed to gain sufficient votes and was not adopted.

Before the vote, Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, Munir Akram, criticized Canada for not condemning Israel while condemning Hamas. He argued that the Israeli occupation was the root cause of the crisis, not the events of October 7th.

Riyad Mansour, Palestine's permanent observer to the UN, expressed gratitude to the 120 nations that voted in favor of the resolution. He stated that there is still goodness in the world and promised to continue efforts to end the war in Gaza.

The Arab resolution, titled "Protection of Civilians and Upholding Legal and Humanitarian Obligations," condemns all acts of violence targeting both Palestinian and Israeli civilians. It calls for an immediate, lasting, and uninterrupted humanitarian truce to halt hostilities, the immediate and unconditional release of all illegally held civilians, and the uninterrupted and sufficient delivery of life-saving aid to Gaza, including water, food, medical supplies, fuel, and electricity. The resolution also firmly rejects any attempts to force the transfer of the Palestinian civilian population and calls on Israel, the occupying power, to rescind its evacuation order for Gazans in the northern part of the territory.

After two weeks of nearly continuous Israeli shelling, the UN has described the situation in which more than 1.5 million Gazans find themselves as a catastrophe. Much of the territory's civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, water and sanitation facilities, and about 40 percent of homes, has been destroyed. Water supplies are nearly depleted, and there are reports of people being forced to drink sewage water. UN agencies have warned that mortality rates will soon skyrocket due to disease outbreaks and a lack of healthcare capacity.

The UN resolution was sponsored by more than 47 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon, as well as Russia and several African and Latin American countries.