The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Friday calling for “urgent steps” to allow the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations Security Council voted Friday to approve a United Arab Emirates-sponsored resolution demanding a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war.
A vote on the resolution was previously scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, but was delayed to try to avoid another veto by the United States.
The resolution passed Friday, in which 13 nations voted in favor with the U.S. and Russia abstaining, “calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
It “demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians, calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access and to enable urgent rescue and recovery efforts, and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring immediate humanitarian access,” the resolution adds.
The resolution also expresses “grave concerns as to the impact the resumption of hostilities has had on civilians.”
“Today, this council made clear that all hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally and that humanitarian groups must be able to access hostages, including for medical visits,” U.
