UN Security Council passes resolution calling for immediate increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza

The UN Security Council on Friday passed a resolution calling for "urgent steps" to immediately allow "safe, unhindered, and expanded" humanitarian access to Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli offensive on the strip.

After several days of intense negotiations and nail-biting delays, the resolution submitted by the United Arab Emirates passed by a vote of 13-0, with the US and Russia – both permanent council members – abstaining.

The resolution demands the parties to the conflict allow and facilitate the use of all available routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip, including border crossings, to ensure humanitarian personnel and assistance reach the civilian population in need.

The resolution requests that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appoint a “senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator” to expedite the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Gaza.

The vote was especially notable in that since Oct. 7, a number of Security Council resolutions on the conflict failed to pass due to vetoes by its permanent members, leading some world leaders and observers to question the council’s effectiveness.

Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, resulting in 20,057 deaths and 53,320 wounded so far, most of them children and women. This has caused immense damage to infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to Palestinian and international sources.