The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has passed a draft resolution on Friday calling for the cessation of arms sales to Israel, nearly six months into the war in Gaza. This marks the first time the UN’s top rights body has taken a position on the bloodiest-ever Gaza war where over 30,000 Palestinians have died. The resolution also demands a halt to all arms sales to Israel, highlighting warnings of “genocide” in its war on Gaza and has called for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip.
It is not just Palestinians. Israel has also killed aid workers. Celebrity Chef and Founder of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres lost seven colleagues when Israeli air strikes hit his convoy on Tuesday. Andres said they shouldn’t have been at risk in the first place because the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) knew the movements of the convoy. He does not believe Israel’s version that the strike was ‘unintentional’. Global leaders have condemned the deaths of the humanitarian workers. While Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese called Israel’s explanation “not good enough” Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez has called it “unacceptable.”
In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his regret and said the strikes were “unintended.”
President Biden also spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu post the strike on Thursday. In the two months following the Oct. 7 attacks, Biden approved two emergency transfers of military aid to Israel worth $254 million. On Monday, hours before the killing of the World Central Kitchen workers, the U.S. approved the shipment of some 2,000 bombs to Israel’s arsenal, according to CNN. The US president reportedly told Netanyahu that he must protect civilians or there would be consequences.
Post the conversation, the Daily Mail reported that the Israeli PM had agreed to open up more crossings for aid. He announced that the Erez crossing would be temporarily reopened. Israel said it would also allow its port in Ashdod to process aid shipments bound for Gaza and allow an increase in Jordanian aid shipments.
Tensions are already high as Israel fired on the Iranian mission in Syria killing seven earlier in the week. A top IRGC commander was killed in the strike. Iran has vowed revenge, and Israel is now on high alert.
Traveller, bibliophile and wordsmith with a yen for international relations. A journalist and budding author of short fiction, life is a daily struggle to uncover the latest breaking story while attempting to be Hemingway in the self-same time. Focussed especially on Europe and West Asia, discussing Brexit, the Iran crisis and all matters related is a passion that endures to this day. Believes firmly that life without the written word is a life best not lived. That’s me, Ashwin Ahmad.
