The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a non-binding resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution passed with 28 votes in favor, 13 abstentions, and 6 against. The United States voted against the resolution.
According to a news release from the United Nations, the resolution “demands that Israel, the occupying power, end its occupation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem; also demands that Israel immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip and all other forms of collective punishment; calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, for immediate emergency humanitarian access and assistance, and for the urgent restoration of basic necessities to the Palestinian population in Gaza.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, said the resolution was a “stain for the Human Rights Council and for the UN as a whole.”
Ahead of the vote, Shahar told the council that the resolution suggests “Israel has no right to protect its people, while Hamas has every right to murder and torture innocent Israelis,” adding, “A vote [for] ‘Yes’ is a vote for Hamas.”
The United States did not vote in favor of the resolution because it did not give “any reference to the terrorist nature” of the actions taken on October 7.
“While we appreciate the addition of language calling for the immediate release of hostages, unfortunately, the text makes no distinction between hostages who were brutally abducted by a terrorist organization that heeds no international law, whose whereabouts are unknown, and who, according to credible UN reporting, are likely experiencing repeated sexual violence, and detainees whose fate is regulated and governed by legal processes,” Ambassador Michèle Taylor explained. “Let me be clear: these groups are not equivalent.”
Taylor claimed that “Israel has not done enough to mitigate civilian harm,” however.
“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties and to ensure humanitarian actors can carry out their essential mission in safety,” she said. “That has not happened, and in just six months more humanitarians have been killed in this conflict than in any war of the modern era.”
