UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday passed a key resolution, emphasizing the immediate acceleration of aid deliveries to the distressed civilians in Gaza, but without the original call for an "urgent suspension of hostilities" between Israel and Hamas.
Resolution 2720 demands parties to the conflict "allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip, and in this regard 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 requests the secretary-general to "appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator" with responsibility for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature of all humanitarian relief consignments provided to Gaza through states which are not parties to the conflict.
The text also demands the "immediate and unconditional release of all hostages," as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address medical needs of all hostages, noting that the provision of fuel to Gaza should meet requisite humanitarian needs.
The resolution reiterates its "unwavering commitment to the vision of the "two-state solution," where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions, and in this regard stresses the importance of "unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority."
The proposed resolution, presented by the United Arab Emirates, garnered support from 13 council members, while the United States and Russia opted to abstain from the vote within the 15-member council.
The vote followed a U.S. veto of a Russian amendment that would have restored the call for a "suspension of hostilities." ■
