The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has handed a non-binding decision demanding that Israel be held accountable for alleged warfare crimes within the Gaza Strip.
The decision was adopted with 28 votes in favor, 13 abstentions and 6 towards. The US voted towards the decision.
In keeping with a United Nations press launch, the decision “calls for that Israel, the occupying energy, finish its occupation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, together with East Jerusalem; additionally calls for that Israel instantly carry the blockade of the Gaza Strip and all different types of collective punishment; requires an instantaneous cease-fire in Gaza, for rapid emergency entry and humanitarian help, and for the speedy restoration of fundamental wants for the Palestinian inhabitants in Gaza.
Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, mentioned the decision was “a stain on the Human Rights Council and on the UN as an entire”.
Earlier than the vote, Shahar instructed the council that the decision urged “Israel has no proper to guard its folks whereas Hamas has each proper to homicide and torture harmless Israelis,” including: “The vote [for] “Sure” is a vote for Hamas.
The US didn’t vote for the decision as a result of it made “no reference to the terrorist nature” of the actions taken on October 7.
“Whereas we respect the addition of language calling for the rapid launch of the hostages, the textual content sadly doesn’t distinguish between hostages who’ve been brutally kidnapped by a terrorist group that has no respect for any worldwide regulation, whose whereabouts are unknown, and who, in keeping with credible UN stories, are prone to expertise repeated sexual violence and detention individuals whose destiny is regulated and managed by authorized processes,” defined Ambassador Michèle Taylor. “To be clear: these teams are usually not equal.
Nonetheless, Taylor argued that “Israel has not performed sufficient to mitigate civilian harm”.
“The US has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict army operations towards Hamas with humanitarian operations to keep away from civilian casualties and be sure that humanitarian actors can safely perform their important missions,” she mentioned. “That didn't occur, and in simply six months extra help staff have been killed on this battle than in any warfare within the trendy period.”
