UN General Assembly to discuss Gaza war after ceasefire resolution fails

The UN General Assembly will meet on December 12 to discuss the situation in Gaza, officials and diplomats said Sunday, after the United States last week vetoed a Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.

A special meeting of the General Assembly has been called for December 12 afternoon by the representatives for Egypt and Mauritania “in their respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and Chair of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation,” a spokesperson for the Assembly president said, The Times of Israel reports.

According to diplomatic sources, the General Assembly, whose resolutions are nonbinding, could vote on a text for a ceasefire resolution at the meeting.

A draft of the text seen by AFP closely follows the language of Friday’s vetoed Security Council resolution, “expressing grave concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.”

It calls for “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire” as well as the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

The Security Council resolution vetoed by the US failed to condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacres in Israel — in which thousands of terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, amid acts of horrific brutality and took about 240 hostages — nor did it acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself.

Following a weeklong truce in November in which 105 hostages were released, it is believed that 138 hostages remain in Gaza, although in recent days the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 18 of those held by Hamas due to new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.