On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council debated whether to call for an end to Israel’s arms sales, since the country’s conflict in Gaza has claimed the lives of over 33,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
The adoption of the statement would represent the first time that the highest rights body of the United Nations has voiced an opinion on the worst war to hit the embattled Palestinian territories.
“Cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel” is what the draft language demands of all nations.
This, it said, is needed among other things “to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights”.
It stresses that the International Court of Justice ruled in January “that there is a plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.
Friday’s draft resolution, which was brought forward by Pakistan on behalf of all Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states except Albania, calls for “an immediate ceasefire” and “for immediate emergency humanitarian access and assistance”.
It comes after the UN Security Council in New York last week also finally passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire — thanks to an abstention from Washington, Israel’s closest ally and largest arms supplier.
However, the ceasefire demand has had no impact on the ground.
Following Hamas’s October 7 strike, which killed roughly 1,170 Israelis, the majority of them civilians, an AFP assessment of Israeli official numbers shows that the war in Gaza broke out.
On October 7, Palestinian militants also grabbed more than 250 captives; of them, 130 are still in Gaza, 34 of whom the IDF claims are dead.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza claims that at least 33,037 individuals have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory campaign, the majority of them were women and children.
