The United Nations General Assembly is expected to call for a ceasefire to the Gaza war in a resolution slated for adoption on Friday, which does not condemn Hamas for its October 7 attack in which over 1,400 people were killed and over 220 taken hostage.
The resolution was submitted by Jordan, an Israeli regional ally since 1994, which also has strong relations with the Palestinian Authority and has been a bitter opponent of IDF aerial bombings of Gaza targeting Hamas.
The UNGA debate preceding Friday’s vote is slated to begin on Thursday morning in New York at 10 a.m., which will be 5 p.m. Israel time.
The first four speakers will be the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan and Iran. The United States is expected to be the ninth speakers, out of a list of some 106 nations.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has been in New York this week seeking to secure International support for a Gaza War cease-fire.
“We are outraged at what is happening now in Gaza,” Safadi told reporters in New York on Tuesday.
“We need the whole international community to be outraged at the absence of justice. We must be outraged at our failure as the international community to solve a conflict that we all knew was going to get worse,” Safadi said.
Mass casualties – but are the numbers accurate?
According to Hamas, over 6,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. Israel has not provided a casualty count, but deaths in Gaza were due both to IDF aerial bombing and failed Palestinian rocket launches.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisel Bin Farhan said that a “cease-fire is a humanitarian imperative. We are facing a desperate situation in Gaza… Every hour we speak more civilians are dying.”
The ceasefire resolution also calls on all parties to protect civilians and to obey International law. It also demands that goods be allowed back into Gaza, particularly humanitarian aid.
It also objects to plans to relocate Palestinians to territory outside of Gaza. Palestinians fear such a move would be a permanent expulsion akin to what happened in 1948 during Israel’s War for Independence.
The text does not specifically make reference to the October 7 Hamas attack nor does it detail its events, in which victims were burned alive, raped and or dismembered.
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