India voted in favour of a draft resolution in the UN General Assembly that demanded an immediate ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ in the Israel-Hamas conflict as well as the unconditional release of all hostages.
The draft resolution, introduced by Egypt, was adopted by the 193-member UN General Assembly at an Emergency Special Session on Tuesday. The resolution was adopted with 153 votes in favour, while 23 nations abstained and 10 voted against it.
The resolution, sponsored among others by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, and Palestine, demanded an immediate ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ in Gaza.
The resolution however did not name Hamas and its October 7 terror attacks on Israel. The US proposed an amendment to the draft resolution, calling for the insertion of the paragraph: “Unequivocally rejects and condemns the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas that took place in Israel starting 7 October 2023 and the taking of hostages” in the main text.
The US-led amendment to the draft resolution was not passed. As many as 84 nations voted in favour of the amendment; 62 voted against while 25 voted abstained. India voted in favour of the amendment.
“India has voted in favour of the resolution just adopted by the General Assembly. The situation that this August body has been deliberating upon has many dimensions. There is the terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October and the concern for the hostages taken at that time. There is an enormous humanitarian crisis and a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially of women and children. There is the issue of observing international humanitarian law in all circumstances. And there is the endeavour to find a peaceful and lasting two-state solution to the longstanding Palestine question,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, said.
“Our challenge, in this extraordinarily difficult time, is to strike the right balance. The gravity and complexity of what the international community faces are underlined by the secretary general invoking Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations. We, therefore, welcome the fact that the international community unity has been able to find a common ground to address the multiple challenges facing the region right now,” Kamboj further said.
