The UN General Assembly on Friday adopted the Gaza resolution calling for immediate and sustained ‘humanitarian truce’, and the document was supported by 120 member-states, 14 were against, including Croatia, and 45 abstained.

This non-binding resolution, proposed by Jordan and some Arab countries, was added to the agenda of an extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly, which focused on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

“It marks the first formal response of the United Nations to the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October, after the Security Council failed on four occasions to reach consensus on any action,” the General Assembly said on its website.

The document condemns all crimes against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, however, it makes no mention of Hamas and fails to condemn the crimes it committed against civilians, and therefore the USA and Israel were against the adoption of such a resolution.

Gilad Erdan, Ambassador of Israel to the UN, said in response to the resolution passing that “today is a day that will go down in infamy”.

“We have all witnessed that the UN holds not even one ounce of legitimacy,” he said. “The UN is committed to ensuring further atrocity. According to the family of nations, Israel has no right to defend itself.”

There are no talks or discussions to be held with Hamas, he said, adding that Israel will not sit idly by to let them commit atrocities again. The resolution does not mention Hamas once, as if the war started on its own.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield emphasized that two keywords were missing in the draft.

“First is Hamas, it is outrageous that the resolution fails to name the perpetrators of the 7 October terrorist attack,” she said, adding that the other “key word missing is hostage; this resolution makes no mention of the innocent people, including citizens of many of you in this room, who have citizens that are held hostage by Hamas and other terrorist groups.”

“These are omissions of evil, they give cover to and empower Hamas’ brutality, and no Member State should allow that to happen,” she stressed.

Most of the EU member-states abstained from the voting, while France, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium voted in favour.

In addition to Croatia, another three EU member-states — Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic — voted against it.

The resolution also demands “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” provision of lifesaving supplies and services for civilians trapped inside the enclave, as news reports suggest Israel has expanded ground operations and intensified its bombing campaign.

At the General Assembly, the 193 Member States each have one vote, and in contrast with the Security Council, there are no vetoes.

A two-thirds majority of the members present and voting makes decisions of the Assembly on important questions.