The provisional agenda for this meeting is the situation in
the Middle East,
including the Palestinian question. The agenda is adopted
in accordance with Rule 37 of the Council's Provisional
Rules of Procedure. I invite the representatives of Israel and
Yemen to participate in this meeting.
It is so decided,
I propose, that the Council invite the permanent observer of
the observer State of Palestine to the United Nations to
participate in the meeting in accordance with the provision,
rules of procedure and the previous practice.
In this regard.
There be no objection. It is so decided,
the Security Council will now begin its consideration of item
two of the agenda.
Members of the Council have before them document
S/2024/254, the text of the draft resolution submitted by Algeria,
Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique,
Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone,
Slovenia and Switzerland.
The Council is ready to proceed.
Proceed to the The Council is ready to proceed to
the vote on the draft resolution before it.
I now give the floor to those members of the
Council who wish to make statements before the vote.
I give the floor to the representative of Mozambique.
Mr. President,
I have the honor
to introduce this draft resolution
on behalf of the ten elected members
of the Security Council,
namely Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan,
Malta, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone,
Slovenia, Switzerland and my own country,
Mozambique.
We wish to commend the Presidency of Japan for convening
this meeting
in order to take action on this important resolution
on the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
We express our deep appreciation to all members of this
Council
for their efforts and the inputs
on this draft resolution and
at ending the catastrophic situation
in the Gaza Strip.
Mr. President, the situation in Gaza
is a matter of grave concern
to the entire international community.
Indeed, the escalation of the conflict in the Gaza Strip
and its catastrophic consequences are a clear threat
to international peace and security.
In this context, the 10
felt compelled to table this draft resolution before you.
The 15 members of this Council,
individually and collectively,
have a mandate under the charter
to work for the maintenance
of international peace and security,
and their actions
impact the entire international community.
This is the strong conviction
that led to the drafting of the text that we
are considering
this morning.
This Council
has been consistently unanimous in its agreement on the obligation
of the parties
in conflict to respect international law,
including international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
D10 have always supported the call for an immediate ceasefire
in Gaza
as a fundamental step.
For this reason, and in respect for the holy month
of Ramadan, we have proposed the present resolution
that demands an immediate ceasefire
during this second period, leading
to permanent and sustainable ceasefire.
At the same time, the draft resolution
demands the immediate and the unconditional release of all hostages
and emphasizes that humanitarian access
must be allowed to address their medical and other humanitarian
needs.
These have been among our key demands
for weeks.
The draft resolution further demands that the parties comply
with their obligations under international law,
as we said before, including international humanitarian law and human
rights law.
The draft resolution also emphasizes
the need for the parties
to abide by the pertinent resolutions
adopted by this Council, including resolutions
2712 and the 2720 of
2023.
D 10
have
a consultative, have adopted A consultative approach
during the negotiation process of this text.
We have consulted extensively and in good faith
with all members of this Council
in a frank, open and flexible manner,
with the aim of achieving a text
that addresses the situation in Gaza.
The adoption of this draft resolution
will certainly be another important step
this Council can build upon
to comprehensively address the crisis in Gaza.
Given the utmost urgency of the situation.
We call upon all members of this Council,
all and each member of this Council
to vote in favor of this resolution.
While this resolution is crucial,
it is essential that we continue working towards
a comprehensive ceasefire and a lasting peace in the region.
I thank you, Mr. President.
I thank the representative of
Mozambique for their statement. I give the floor to the
representative of Russian Federation.
My
family stunned and disappointed about the way the work on
the draft resolution in the last 24 hours was done.
The fact that the word permanent in OP one
relating to a ceasefire is proposed to be replaced by
a more weak wording
with something we learned about a little more than an
hour before the beginning of the meeting,
That is unacceptable.
We all received instructions for the vote on the text
that contained the word permanent,
and we believe that that is a fundamental importance.
All of the remaining wording
leaves too broad an area for interpretation
which could allow Israel to resume its military operation in
the Gaza Strip at any moment following the expiry of
the ceasefire
which we today hope will be established.
In order to avoid this scenario,
we would like to make an oral amendment to the
text and return the word permanent in OP one.
In so doing, it would read as it read
in the previously issued resolution,
namely demands in the immediate ceasefire for the months of
Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a permanent sustainable
ceasefire.
And also demands the immediate
and unconditional
release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access
to address their medical and other humanitarian needs.
And further demands that the parties comply with their obligations
under international law in relation to all,
to all persons they detain.
I thank the representative of Russian Federation for their statement.
Members of the Council have before them a proposed amendment
submitted by Russian Federation to the text of the draft
resolution contained in the document
IS/2024/254 submitted by Algeria, Ecuador,
Guyana, Japan, Martha Mozambique, Republic of Korea,
Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Rule 36 of the Council's Provisional Rules of Procedure states
in the area the following
When an amendment as to or delete from the text
of a motion or draft resolution,
that amendment shall be voted on 1st.
Accordingly, I intend to put the proposal,
proposed amendment to the vote first.
Will those in favor of proposed amendment please lay there
raise their hand
against
abstentions?
The result of the voting is as follows.
3 votes in favor, one vote against,
11 abstentions.
The proposed amendment has not been adopted.
Having failed to obtain the required number of votes,
I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.
Will those in favor of the draft resolution contained in
document
S/2024/200V54 please their raise their hand?
Those against
abstention?
The result of the voting is as follows.
14 votes in favor, zero vote against,
one abstention.
The draft resolution has been adopted as Resolution
27/28/2000 and 24,
and I now give the floor to those members of
the Council who wish to make statements after the vote.
I give the floor to the representative of Algeria.
Thank you, Mr. President, I would
do. I would like to thank
all the Council Members for their flexibility
and the constructive way
that allowed us today
to adopt
this long-awaited resolution,
a resolution that calls for
an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,
in order to put an end
to the massacres
that
unfortunately are still ongoing.
Over the past five years,
five months,
over the past five months,
the Palestinian people has suffered greatly.
This bloodbath
has continued for far too long.
It is our obligation to put an end to this
bloodbath before it is too late.
Finally,
finally,
the Security Council
is shouldering its responsibility
as the primary organ responsible for maintaining international peace and
security.
It is finally responding to the calls
of the international community.
These repeated calls
Antonio Guterres, not only from the international community but also
from the Secretary General,
Mr. Antonio Guterres.
And once again, we renew
our support to the Secretary General for his noble position
and for his support
to this just cause,
despite the heinous campaigns that were launched against him.
Mr. President,
when
we voted
on the draft resolution table by Algeria last month,
we promised
that we will spare no effort.
We will continue
to work hard to make sure that the Security Council
is abiding by its full responsibility.
We also promised that we will
come back
once again
to knock on the doors of the Security Council.
And here we are today,
alongside
all ten elected Member States,
to convey a clear message to the Palestinian people.
This message is as follows.
The international community
in its entirety
did not abandon you,
feels your suffering.
It did not abandon you,
Mr. President.
Adopting today's resolution
is only the beginning
to meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people.
We look forward to the
commitment and the compliance of the Israeli
occupying power
with this resolution, for them
to put an end to the bloodbath,
without any conditions, to
end the suffering of the Palestinian people.
It is the responsibility of the Security Council
to ensure the implementation of the provisions of this resolution.
In conclusion, Mr. President,
I reaffirm that Algeria
will
return once again before the Security Council
under the instructions of His Excellency the President of the
Republic,
to make sure that Palestine returns to its natural
status as a full-fledged member,
a sovereign Member States of the United Nations.
I thank you,
I thank the representative of Algeria for their statement.
I give the floor to the representative of the United
States.
Thank you, Mr. President,
at the top. I want to express my deepest condolences
to the families and loved ones of last week's terrorist
attack in Moscow.
We condemn terrorism in all its forms and stand in
solidarity with the Russian people in grieving the loss of
life from this horrific event.
Colleagues, today this Council spoke out in support of the
ongoing diplomatic efforts led by the United States,
Qatar, Egypt, to bring about an immediate and sustainable ceasefire,
secure the immediate release of all hostages and help alleviate
the tremendous suffering
of Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are in dire need
of protection and life saving,
humanitarian assistance. the United States fully supports these critical objectives.
In fact, they were the foundation of the resolution we
put forward last week,
a resolution that Russia and China vetoed.
But, colleagues, the United States support for these objectives is
not simply rhetorical.
We're working around the clock to make them real on
the ground through diplomacy,
because we know that it is through only through diplomacy
that we can
push this agenda forward. We're getting closer to a deal
for the immediate ceasefire with the release of all hostages,
but we're not there yet.
Now, let's be clear. A ceasefire could have come about
months ago if Hamas had been willing to release hostages
months ago.
Instead, Hamas continues to stand in the way of peace,
to throw up roadblocks, cower in tunnels beneath Gaza cities
and behind under civilian infrastructure,
and hide among the civilian population.
So today, my ask to members of this Council and
to member states in every region of the world is
this
speak out and demand unequivocally that Hamas accepts the deal
on the table.
Now, I hope I'm wrong,
I really do. But I don't expect that from Russia
and China
especially because they still can't bring themselves to condemn Hamas
as terrorist attacks on October 7th.
Just last week, Russia and China vetoed a resolution that
condemned this horrific attack,
a resolution the vast majority of this council supported.
They have shown time and time again that they are
not actually interested and advancing adorable peace through diplomatic efforts.
Nor, for all their rhetoric,
are they interested in making any meaningful contributions to humanitarian
efforts.
Instead, they are using this devastating conflict as a political
cudgel to try to divide this council at a time
when we need to come together.
It is deeply, deeply cynical and we should all see
through it.
Colleagues, we appreciated the willingness of members of this council
to take some of our edits and improve on this
resolution.
Still, certain key edits were ignored,
including our request to add a condemnation of Hamas,
and we did not agree with everything in the resolution.
For that reason, we were unfortunately not able to vote
yes.
However, as I've said before,
we fully support some of the critical objectives in this
non binding resolution and we believe it was important for
the Council to speak out and make clear that our
ceasefire must any ceasefire must come with the release of
all hostages.
Indeed, as I've said before,
the only path to adorable end to this conflict is
the release of all hostages.
Critically, a ceasefire and the release of hostages will allow
much more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza at a
time when famine is looming large
and provide an opportunity to work toward a sustainable cessation
of hostilities.
Toward a future where Hamas can no longer threaten Israel
and never repeat October 7th and no longer control Gaza
and use civilians as Shields.
Toward a future where Palestinians and Israelis live side by
side in peace in two democratic states of their own.
Something that will never happen with Hamas,
a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel and
the killing of Jews,
a terrorist organization this body still fails to condemn.
Controlling Hama, controlling Gaza. Colleagues,
we meet during the holy month of Ramadan.
This should be a reason,
a season of peace for Muslim communities around the world,
just as October 7th, Simhat Torah
should have been a day of peace for Jewish communities.
This resolution rightly acknowledges that during the month of Ramadan
we must
recommit to peace. Hamas can do that by accepting the
deal on the table.
A ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the
first hostage,
and so we must put pressure on Hamas to do
just that.
This is the only path
to securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages,
as we have all called for today.
That is what this resolution means.
A ceasefire of any duration must come with the release
of hostages.
This is the only path.
Thank you very much, Mr.
President.
I thank the representative of the United States for their
statement.
I give the floor to the representative of Slovenia.
Thank you very much, Mr.
President.
Today's an important day.
We're bringing you live pictures from the United Nations,
where members of the Security Council have just voted
to support a resolution which demands an immediate ceasefire for
the month of Ramadan,
respected by all parties, leading to a lasting,
sustainable ceasefire. The vote for that was 14 in favour,
0 against, one abstention. That was the US.