UN to vote on resolution condemning Israeli massacre in Gaza

Rasa - The United Nations General Assembly is to hold a vote on a draft resolution condemning Israel’s brutal crackdown against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than a 100 Palestinians in a little over two months.

News ID: 438227

Date: 13 June 2018 - 22:39

RNA - The vote, which will be held later on Wednesday, was called by the Palestinians and its supporters at the world boy after the US used its veto power to block the a similar Kuwait-drafted resolution at the UN Security Council on June 1.

The new Arab-backed draft urges Israeli forces to stop “any excessive, disproportionate, and indiscriminate force” against Palestinians.

At least 131 Palestinians have been killed and 13,900 others wounded by Israeli forces since March 30, when the regime ordered a crackdown on weekly Gaza rallies promoting Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland.

The draft asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make proposals within 60 days “on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection, and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation,” including “recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism.”

It calls for “immediate steps towards ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip.”

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, however, called the proposed resolution “a fundamentally imbalanced text that ignores basic truths about the situation in Gaza.”

“If we are to truly work for the protection of the Palestinian people, the international community must condemn the malign behavior of Hamas without delay,” she wrote in a letter to diplomatic missions at the world body, the DPA reported.

According to Press TV, she was referring to the Palestinian resistance movement, which has been governing and defending the coastal sliver against repeated Israeli wars and incessant airstrikes.

The US envoy urged UN member states to support a US amendment, which condemns Hamas. The measure will be put to vote at the Assembly before the pro-Palestine resolution.

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