Gaza: UN Security Council demands immediate ceasefire during Ramadan – Current Affairs

The text received 14 votes in favor and one abstention from the United States of America.

After another five months of war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, this is the first time that the Security Council has managed to approve a resolution regarding a ceasefire in the enclave, after several projects have been consecutively vetoed.

The most recent case occurred on Friday, when a resolution authored by the United States that “mandated an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza was rejected by countries such as Russia and China, which objected to the language used in the text. , namely by not “demanding” this cessation of hostilities and by linking the ceasefire to the release of hostages held by Hamas.

The resolution now approved “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, respected by all parties, leading to a lasting and sustainable ceasefire.”

Ramadan began on March 10 and ends on April 9, meaning the ceasefire requirement will last just two weeks, although the draft says the pause in fighting should lead “to a lasting and sustainable ceasefire.” .

It also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as the guarantee of humanitarian access to meet their medical and other humanitarian needs, and further demands that the parties to the conflict comply with their obligations under international law “in relation to to all the people they detain.”

The resolution was presented by the 10 elected member states of the Security Council: Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Since the start of the war, the Council has only managed to approve two resolutions and neither of them concerned a ceasefire, but rather humanitarian issues.

However, the results are scarce: aid to Gaza continues to be largely insufficient and famine is imminent in the enclave, at a time when more than 32 thousand people have already died.

Israel’s war against Hamas was triggered after the Islamist movement’s attacks on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than two hundred kidnapped.